Trio graduate with honours

By Paul Saffer

Unlike the other European club competitions, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, which begins this weekend, has sometimes had problems attracting entrants.

Prestigious entrants
The mid-summer start has not always proved alluring to teams facing a long season in the major leagues. Yet this time around three former European champions, Hamburger SV, Olympique de Marseille and BV Borussia Dortmund, plus the likes of Valencia CF, RC Deportivo La Coruña, S.S. Lazio and Newcastle United FC, will be competing for the three UEFA Cup first-round places on offer.

Trio succeed
Before last season's competition, only three sides - VfB Stuttgart in 2002, Juventus FC in 1999 and Valencia in 1998 - had won the Intertoto Cup and qualified for the UEFA Champions League in the following campaign. As many teams had been relegated from their league the year after winning the competition. The class of 2004 experienced much greater fortunes. Winners LOSC Lille Métropole, Villarreal CF and FC Schalke 04 all went on to claim Champions League berths for 2005/06.

Mammoth season
For Villarreal it was a particularly long season - 330 days to be precise. They returned to competitive action on 3 July 2004, one day before the UEFA EURO 2004™ final, with an Intertoto Cup second-round trip to Odense BK, and did not begin their summer break until 29 May 2005 - after a 4-1 win against Levante UD gave them a best-ever Primera División finish of third and with it a debut Champions League chance.

'Excellent year'
Goalkeeper José Reina accumulated just short of 5,000 minutes on the pitch in 2004/05 but his efforts, and those of his team-mates, have been richly rewarded. Coach Manuel Luis Pellegrini said: "Overall, we had an excellent year. Playing the Intertoto, reaching the UEFA Cup and then finishing third in the Primera División was very important. But the most pleasing accomplishment was being the team who played the most minutes in Spain and doing so with some highly attractive football."

Lille efforts
Lille's season was also impressive as they ended with a late surge, losing just one league game in 2005 and finishing second with the 14th-biggest budget in Ligue 1. Coach Claude Puel turned down an early-season offer from European champions FC Porto to oversee Lille's 59-match campaign and praised his side's efforts.

'Hard workers'
"Success in the long term was due to the players' ability to bounce back after the low moments which inevitably come during such a long season," he said. "They found enough motivation and also enough skill to clinch important games to remain at the top. They proved to be hard workers although they are very young and it was a delight to guide this squad."

Schalke in second
Schalke did fade a little late on in their season, having gone top of the table with nine rounds to go when they defeated FC Bayern München, ending 14 points adrift in second. Tired legs may have played their part in that and Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick was keen to remind the Germany national team to go easy on striker Gerald Asamoah at the FIFA Confederations Cup, saying: "I reminded [coach Jürgen] Klinsmann how many games Gerald has played this season and he understands that. He promised to rest Asamoah as much as possible."

Potential rewards
No one pretends 2005/06 will be an easy campaign for those entering the Intertoto Cup. But the potential rewards are great and after last season's heroics, maybe this is the year when an Intertoto Cup winner goes all the way and clinches the UEFA Cup.