Europa League: Tough test for Perm, holidays for Zenit and Dynamo
Published: 07 August, 2009, 23:26
European Cup debutants Amkar of Perm will take on the English side Fulham. Dynamo and Zenit face modest Bulgarian and Portuguese opposition, respectively.
Three Russian sides, along with other European clubs, have learned who they will face next in the Europa League. The draw for the playoff round was made at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.
Zenit St. Petersburg, the 2007/08 UEFA Cup champions and the only seeded Russian side in the tournament, has been drawn against Nacional, which finished fourth in the Portuguese domestic championship last season.
Dynamo enter the Europa League after Celtic knocked them out of the Champions League, and the Muscovites will face CSKA Sofia next.
Dynamo and Zenit will play their first legs at home, in Moscow and St Petersburg, respectively, while Amkar will have to travel.
The first legs are scheduled for August 20, with the return games to be played a week later. 38 teams will go through to the group stage of the inaugural Europa League season.
Brøndby (Denmark) – Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain) – Tromsø (Norway)
Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Cluj (Romania)
Rapid Wien (Austria) – Aston Villa (England)
Steaua BucureÅŸti (Romania) – Saint Patrick's Athletic (Ireland)
Maribor (Slovenia) – Sparta Praha (Czech Republic)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia) – Nacional (Portugal)
Genoa (Italy) – Odense (Denmark)
Dinamo BucureÅŸti (Romania) – Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)
Guingamp (France) – Hamburger (Germany)
Sion (Switzerland) – Fenerbahçe (Turkey)
Sturm Graz (Austria) – Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
Slavia Praha (Czech Republic) – Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)
Benfica (Portugal) – Vorskla Poltava (Ukraine)
Vaslui (Romania) – AEK Athens (Greece)
Stabæk (Norway) – Valencia (Spain)
PAOK (Greece) – Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) – Heart of Midlothian (Scotland)
Werder Bremen (Germany) – Aktobe (Kazakhstan)
Everton (England) – Sigma Olomouc (Czech Republic)
BATE Borisov (Belarus) – Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
Breda (Netherlands) – Villarreal (Spain)
Lech PoznaÅ„ (Poland) – Brugge (Belgium)
Fulham (England) – Amkar Perm (Russia)
Galatasaray (Turkey) – Levadia Tallinn (Estonia)
Teplice (Czech Republic) – Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Irael)
Metallurh Donetsk (Ukraine) – Austria Wien (Austria)
Twente (Netherlands) – QarabaÄŸ (Azerbaijan)
Košice (Slovakia) – Roma (Italy)
Dinamo Moskva (Russia) – CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Genk (Belgium) – Lille (France)
Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv (Israel) – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Lazio (Italy) – Elfsborg (Sweden)
Trabzonspor (Turkey) – Toulouse (France)
Partizan (Serbia) – Žilina (Slovakia)
Bakı (Azerbaijan) – Basel (Switzerland)
Ajax (Netherlands) – Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
07.08.2009, 11:13
Real’s spending spree overSpain’s Xabi Alonso has completed his £30 million move to big-spender Real Madrid from Liverpool. Sporting director Jorge Valdano said the capture of Alonso would signal the end of Real Madrid's spending spree. |
08.08.2009, 16:53
Ribery’s move to Madrid almost finalized – reportsReal Madrid management have come to terms with Franck Ribery’s agent over the Bayern Munich midfielder’s move to Santiago Bernabeu in 2010, Spanish AS reports. |
