Trophy in Seville's safekeeping

The UEFA Cup is now in the safekeeping of the Spanish city of Seville until the final takes place there on Wednesday 21 May.

Special ceremony
At a special ceremony in Seville, the trophy for European club football's second major competition was returned to UEFA by last year's winners, Dutch club Feyenoord, and then handed on to the Seville authorities. The trophy was flown into the city by Jorien van den Herik, president of last year's winners Feyenoord, the Dutch club's head coach Bert van Marwijk, and Feyenoord's vice-captain Kees van Wonderen.

May final
UEFA vice-president Senes Erzik received the UEFA Cup on behalf of UEFA and handed it on to the Lord Mayor of Seville, Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín, at the city's Caseta Municipal. The UEFA Cup trophy remains in Seville's safekeeping until the final between Scotland's Celtic FC and FC Porto of Portugal at the Estadio Olímpico on 21 May.

Distinguished guests
The ceremony was attended by a number of distinguished guests, including representatives of the city's two major clubs, Real Betis Balompié and Sevilla FC, among them the former Sevilla player Juan Arza. The guest of honour was former Romanian international goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam, the hero of FC Steaua Bucuresti's 1986 European Champion Clubs' Cup victory over FC Barcelona. Duckadam saved all four penalties taken by Barcelona players as Steaua won the decisive shoot-out 2-0 after a goalless draw.

Symbolic curtain-raiser
In recent times, UEFA has introduced the annual trophy handover ceremony in which the holders of the major club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, return the trophy to UEFA, who immediately hand it on to the host city as a symbolic curtain-raiser to the final.

Previous situation
"If we cast our minds back to finals in the past, the trophy was flown in on the eve of the game and flew out again with the winners. It symbolised a situation which sometimes – rightly or wrongly – gave us the uncomfortable feeling that, in a certain way, the hosts were being kept out of the party they had organised," UEFA President Lennart Johansson said in his message for the ceremony.

Welcoming the finalists
"From now until it is handed to the winner on 21 May, the UEFA Cup is in the hands of the city of Seville and all the people who are preparing to welcome the finalists, their supporters and media representatives from all over the globe. The UEFA Cup final is one of the world's top sporting events, and I hope that the authorities and the people of Seville will thoroughly enjoy being our hosts."