QuoteYes some tough away draw there alright
Slavia Prague v Cork City
Dinamo Bucharest v EVERTON
HIBERNIAN v FC Dnipro
MIDDLESBROUGH v Xanthi
BOLTON v Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Not terribly attractive ties for any of them.
Yes some tough away draw there alright
Hope Cork do well
UEFA Cup has certainly been screwed by the Champions/RunnersUp/ThirdPlace/Possibly4th League in terms of the calibre of the teams. I assume that the teams from the Czech Republic/Romania etc are the Boltons and Middlesboroughs of their leagues. It's good of course that the so-called less fashionable teams get a chance to compete for glory but having fought their way through a few rounds the rejects from the CL then join them in the later rounds. I wonder since this format has started has the UEFA Cup been won by a non-CL reject ?
Valencia in 2003/04, Porto in 2002/03, Liverpool in 2000/01. So half and half in the past six years anyway according to Bert Kassies' site.Originally Posted by OwlsFan
What's the group format going to be like? How many teams in each? Does each team play one home & one away?
Life without Rovers, it makes no sense...it's a heartache...nothing but a fools game. S.R.F.C.
5 teams per group. You play each team once, two at home and two away.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
ok cheers!
Life without Rovers, it makes no sense...it's a heartache...nothing but a fools game. S.R.F.C.
If you can make head or tail out of that site, you're a better man than me Gungaden.
When did the CL rejects gain access to the UEFA Cup. Was it as far back as 2000/01 ?
Go into Database on the top left of the main page, and then under "Matches", you'll see all the years of European competition. Once you find that, you're away.
CL teams going into the UEFA is around a long while, certainly those who lose in the Third Qualifying Round. Third placed group teams have been gong to UEFA since 1999/00 at least (Bayer Leverkusen). Probably earlier, but I couldn't be bothered checking back.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv's President Georgi Iliev( formerly of Velbazhd Kyustendil)
was assassinatedoutside the bar he owns in Sunny Beach on the Black Sea Coast after he was celebrating Loko Plovdiv's victory in the UEFA Cup the home leg of which was held in nearby Burgas( why it was held there I don't know).
He was in a similar role with Velbazhd Kyustendil when they played UCD in the Intertoto Cup five years ago and anyone who travelled with the official party was a guest of his at his mansion outside the town after the game.
He is he first person I personally have been introduced to that has been shot dead.
Especially tough luck for Hibs. Dnipro is a good side, last year Belgian line-up Bruges was in a group with them. Everyone expected Bruges, Zaragoza or Austria Wien to win the group, no one gave Dnipro any chance. But Dnipro qualified for the second round and kicked out Bruges... They won vs Bruges and also kept Zaragoza under control...
Plus, a trip to the Ukraine is never easy (although it's one of my travelling dreams to go to Ukraine and the Kaukasus)
Cork drew the team that unfortunately did not manage to kick Anderlecht out of the Champions League (*I hate Anderlecht, everyone hates a certain club from the home country due to regional rivalry or so*) but they're not a bad side at all. Still, I think Cork has a chance to progress.
Also important: Prague is a very nice destination to go to and very cheap (so no excuse for Cork fans not to travel ! A pint there costs less than 1 euro
Good luck to Cork!
Linfield misses a meeting with last year's runners-up Sporting Lisbon
Apparently Dnipro had their best players picked off them by Dynamo Kiev and Shaktar Donetsk during the summer, and they've made a fairly poor start to their league season, so it might not be that unlucky at all. Actually given the 5 teams they could have drawn, dnipro is probably their best bet to get to the group stages.
Beat Rangers 3-0 yesterday too
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