The 2014 European soccer calendar starts out this week, with a full slate of high-profile Champions League fixtures.

But, Europe’s second competition, the Europa League, also resumes this week with the first legs of the round of 32.

Despite being largely overshadowed by many of the major European nations, many clubs in the Europa League are looking for success on the continental scale to turn around their season.

Swansea City vs. Napoli

Napoli went out of the Champions league in heartbreaking fashion.  Despite being in a three-way tie for first place in the “group of death”, Napoli only managed to finish third on goal differential. The loss was so brutal that new striker Gonzolo Higuin was in tears following their last match.  Luckily for Higuin and the rest of the star-studded squad, the Italian side has another chance in Europe against Premier League competition.

Swansea City is in the middle of a regelation battle, but it has recorded impressive wins in the Europa League so far this year including a decisive win at Valencia.  Italian and current Russian national team coach Fabio Capello recently criticized the quality of play in Italy, but a strong showing in Europe from Napoli could make the former England manager bight his words.

Viktoria Plzen vs. Shakhtar Donestsk

These two domestic champions also finished third in their Champions League groups and are looking to make the most in a tournament they are not quite as overmatched in.  Shakhtar has won the last four Ukrainian Premier League titles, but its form on the continental stage has been mixed. They will also be without striker Maicon, who died recently in a car crash, leaving the miners with heavy hearts leading into their biggest games of the season. The rest of Shakhtar’s Brazilian legion including Alex Teixeira, Bernard, and Taison will be looking to honor their diseased countryman.

Plzen has gone through a renaissance in the past three years, winning two Czech League titles, and will be looking to finally make itself known in Europe.  Plzen knew they were not going to make it out of their group with Manchester City and Bayern Munich in it, but the team managed to beat CSKA Moscow in the race for third and will look to follow up last year’s Europa League run to the round of 16.

Racing Genk vs. Anzi Makhachlaka

Anzi is in a complete free-fall, and is looking for anything to put a positive twist on its season.  Billionaire owner Suleyman Kerimov decided to drastically scale back the club’s budget, leaving the team in a financial crisis.  Chelsea bought Anzi’s two best players, Willian and Samuel Eto’o, and the Dagastan club found itself in dead last in the Russian Premier League, ten points from safety. Traveling to Russia is no easy task for any club, and Anzi will need any advantage it can get to advance to the second knockout round.

Genk has completed in a group stage in Europe for the past three years, but its success has ended there. With all the hype surrounding the Belgium national team, Genk will be looking to gain some of the attention back on domestic Belgian soccer. Striker jelle Vossen has scored five times in eight matches in Europe and has also added 10 in the league.  If his form can continue through the end of the year, and especially in the Europa League, Vossen can earn one of the final spots on the Belgium team heading to Brazil for the World Cup.