Extra refs in charge as Europa League starts

LONDON — UEFA Cup champion Shakhtar Donetsk opens its defense in the renamed Europa League on Thursday, with an even bigger change in place involving match officials.

For the first time in a European club tournament, the referee will have four assistants instead of two, with two extra officials stationed behind the goal lines to catch incidents or make decisions the ref doesn't see.

Although it is an experiment, the system of five officials could become the norm.

Soccer's governing bodies have approved the move to head off repeated calls for referees to get help from video technology. There have been several recent incidents of balls clearly crossing the line, but the goals not counting because the three officials couldn't see it.

In one Champions League game last season, the referee sent off the wrong player.

The extra officials will be on duty at each of the 24 matches as the group phase of the competition kicks off across Europe.

While most powerhouse clubs are in the Champions League, the Europa League includes several teams that have won or reached the final of European soccer's more prestigious competition.

Four-time European Cup champion Ajax welcomes Romanian club Politehnica Timisoara and two-time winner Benfica, which has added former Real Madrid players Javier Saviola and Javier Garcia to its lineup, faces Belarussian team BATE Borisov in Lisbon.

Of the other former European Cup winners, PSV Eindhoven goes to Sparta Prague, Celtic visits Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hamburg travels to Rapid Vienna and Steaua Bucharest hosts FC Sheriff.

Shakhtar, which beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in last season's final to become the last winner of the UEFA Cup, visits FC Brugge in its first group game. Bremen visits Portuguese team Nacional with striker Markus Rosenberg back in the squad after a three-month injury absence.

Another German team badly in need of a confidence-boosting lift is Hertha Berlin, which has lost four straight Bundesliga games. Hertha hosts Latvian club FK Ventspils but will be without Florian Kringe, a new arrival from Borussia Dortmund, who broke a bone in his foot.

Valencia, one of the favorites to win the title, goes to Lille having not lost in its last six visits to France in European competitions.