The UEFA Cup first-round draw was held on Friday and there are a number of interesting new faces in the competition. One of those teams is Dutch side FC Twente, who as we’ve detailed in previous posts, is now coached by former England boss Steve McClaren. Twente, who were entered into the UEFA Cup after they were soundly defeated by Arsenal in Champions League qualifying, have been drawn against French club Rennes.
Two early favourites have to be six-times European champions AC Milan and Sevilla, who won the UEFA Cup in successive seasons (2006 and 2007) under coach Juande Ramos (now with Tottenham Hotspur). AC Milan face Swiss outfit FC Zurich in the opening round while Sevilla start out against FC Salzburg of Austria.
The first-leg ties will be played on September 18th with the return legs taking place on October 2nd. The 40 teams that progress from this round will entered into the group stage of the competition.
Here are the results in full (my predicted winners are bolded):
AC Milan v FC Zurich
Politehnica Timisoara v Partizan Belgrade
Hertha Berlin v St Patricks
Banik Ostrava v Spartak Moscow
Metalist Kharkiv v Besiktas
Portsmouth v Guimaraes
Kayserispor v PSG
Sevilla v SV Red Bull Salzburg
Wolfsburg v Rapid Bucuresti
Sampdoria v FBK Kaunas
Maritimo v Valencia
Dinamo Zagreb v Sparta Prague
Manchester City v Omonia Nicosia
Young Boys v Club Brugge
AS Nancy v Motherwell
Everton v Standard Liege
Napoli v Benfica
AC Bellinzona v Galatasaray
NEC v Dinamo Bucuresti
Racing Santander v FC Honka
APOEL Nicosia v Schalke 04
Litex Lovech v Aston Villa
FK Austria Magna v Lech Poznan
Vitoria Setubal v Heerenveen
SK Brann v Deportivo La Coruna
Slavia Prague v Vaslui
Slaven Koprivnica v CSKA Moscow
Brondby v Rosenborg
Cherno More v VfB Stuttgart
Rennes v FC Twente
Ajax v Borac
Tottenham v Wisla Krakow
FC Copenhagen v FC Moscow
MSK Zilina v Levski Sofia
Borussia Dortmund v Udinese
Braga v Artmedia Petrzalka
Feyenoord v Kalmar FF
Hamburg v Unirea Urziceni
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Saint Etienne
FC Nordsjaelland v Olympiacos
