First steps on the road to glory

In a busy week in European club competition the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round kicks off on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by the UEFA Cup first qualifying round on Thursday. The final edition of the UEFA Intertoto Cup is also reaching a climax with the third round ties to be played over the next two weekends.

Experience
It is under two months since Manchester United FC won the UEFA Champions League, but already sides across Europe will take their first steps on the road to next year's final in Rome in the first qualifying round on Tuesday and Wednesday. FC Artmedia Bratislava, IFK Göteborg - who reached the semi-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1986 - and NK Dinamo Zagreb are the only three teams in the first qualifying round to have reached the group stage before and will be looking to make their experience count against Valletta FC, S.S. Murata and Linfield FC respectively.

Newcomers
Of the 28 teams in UEFA Champions League action this week, seven will be making their competition debuts. Bosnian-Herzegovnian champions FK Modriča will experience just their fifth match in European club competition when they travel to Albania to play KS Dinamo Tirana on Tuesday, the same number as Azerbaijan title-winners FC İnter Bakı who take on FK Rabotnicki of F.Y.R Macedonia. Welsh champions Llanelli AFC embark on their maiden UEFA Champions League campaign against Latvia's FK Ventspils, while FC Santa Coloma, from Andorra, face FBK Kaunas. The other newcomers are Montenegro's FK Budućnost Podgorica, who play Tampere United, NSÍ Runavík, from the Faroe Islands, who have been drawn against FC Dinamo Tbilisi, and Irish champions Drogheda who face FC Levadia Tallinn. To see the draw in full click here.

UEFA Cup starts
Qualifying for the UEFA Cup begins on Thursday with 74 teams in first-round action. It may only be mid-July but there are some big names already involved, all with an eye on the trophy FC Zenit St. Petersburg won in Manchester last May. Former English champions Manchester City FC take on Faroese side EB/Streymur, FC København, who beat both Manchester United FC and Celtic FC in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League two seasons ago, play Northern Ireland's Cliftonville FC, Hertha BSC Berlin meet Moldova's FC Nistru Otaci and FC Salzburg, favourites to win the Austrian Bundesliga, take on Armenia's FC Banants. The UEFA Cup final will be played in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. To see the draw for the first qualifying round in full, click here.

Villa hopeful
The UEFA Intertoto Cup, meanwhile, is graced with a host of top names for its swansong as the third round of the final edition kicks off on Saturday. Among some of the eye-catching ties, former European Cup winners Aston Villa FC play Odense BK, VfB Stuttgart take on FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast and SSC Napoli play Panionios GSS.