Sunderland will make their first European appearance since November 1973 when they host Dutch side AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday in the Europa League. Nine of the 18 games scheduled in match week one of the Europa League's league phase are taking place on Wednesday, with Celtic, Sunderland, AC Milan, Benfica, and Lyon among the teams in action. Typically, fixtures in both the Europa League and Conference League are played on Thursday nights, but exceptions are made when fixture clashes occur in similar geographical areas. The strongest verified fact is that Sunderland will make their first European appearance since November 1973.