Big names enter UEFA Cup fray

Eighty teams enter today's UEFA Cup first round draw at 12.30CET in Monaco knowing they are just one tie from the competition's inaugural group stage.

Different routes
All 32 winners from the second qualifying round will go into the hat along with the 29 teams who received a bye to the first round, the three UEFA Intertoto Cup winners and the 16 teams defeated in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. The teams are split into eight groups of ten teams, with five seeds in each pool to be drawn against any of the five unseeded clubs.

Group stage
The sides that emerge victorious from the two-legged ties, scheduled for 16 and 30 September, will then be split into eight pools of five, with the first of five group stage matchdays on 21 October.

Former winners
Among the teams in the hat are former UEFA Cup winners Feyenoord - also one of four former European champions along with SL Benfica, FK Crvena Zvezda and FC Steaua Bucuresti - and Parma FC, plus Newcastle United FC, who lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968/69, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup victors S.S. Lazio, Sporting Clube de Portugal, FC Dinamo Tbilisi, Rangers FC and Real Zaragoza.

European debutants
Joining them in the draw are three European debutants from the second-flights of France, Germany and England - TSV Alemannia Aachen, LB Châteauroux and Millwall FC - who all lost their respective national cup finals to Champions League entrants. Another English team making their bow are League Cup holders Middlesbrough FC. Greece's Egaleo FC are also on the list of competition newcomers, while FC Schalke 04 and Villarreal CF cross over from the Intertoto Cup for the second year running along with fellow winners Lille OSC.

Valencia absent
Holders Valencia CF are not in the running, however, as they will compete in the Champions League group stage. Yet they could still defend their trophy, as the eight third-placed teams in that round will join the top three in each of the UEFA Cup groups in February's Round of 32.

UEFA Cup first round draw (ties 16/30 Sepember)

Group 1 

Group 2 

Group 3

Group 4 

Group 5 

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8