Shakhtar drawn against Timişoara

UEFA Cup winners FC Shakhtar Donetsk will play competition debutants FC Timişoara in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round after the draw was made in Nyon on Friday.

New format
Under the competition's new format, the last two rounds prior to the group stage will run along two lines: the Champions Path for nations whose title winners do not go straight into the competition proper, including the teams emerging from the second qualifying round (concluding next week), and the Non-Champions Path for the remainder of the sides. Click here for a full explanation of the format. While 17 of the 20 places in the Champions Path section of the third qualifying round are still to be decided, the five Best-placed Path ties on 28/29 July and 4/5 August are already known.

Celtic face Dinamo
Shakhtar will meet Timişoara, former European champions Celtic FC encounter FC Dinamo Moskva, and RSC Anderlecht are up against newcomers Sivasspor. Group stage regulars AC Sparta Praha and Panathinaikos FC come face to face while Sporting Clube de Portugal take on FC Twente.

Road to group stage
The winners of the five Non-Champions Path ties will follow Arsenal FC, Olympique Lyonnais, VfB Stuttgart, ACF Fiorentina and Club Atlético de Madrid into the play-off round. Likewise, the ten Champions Path winners will meet each other at the same stage. The draw for both play-off paths takes place on 7 August, with the games scheduled for 18/19 and 25/26 August. In all, ten teams from qualification will join the 22 automatic group-stage entrants, including holders FC Barcelona and debutants VfL Wolfsburg, FC Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, AFC Unirea Urziceni and R. Standard de Liège. The 2010 UEFA Champions League final will be held at Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu on 22 May, the first to be played on a Saturday.