Croatia catering for Europe's top amateurs
Friday, June 12, 2009
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Footballing dreams will come true in Croatia from Monday as the Zagreb region hosts the 6th UEFA Regions' Cup, with eight sides battling to succeed 2007 winners Dolnośląski ZPN as Europe's best amateur team.
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The 6th UEFA Regions' Cup gets underway in Croatia on Monday when eight teams will begin vying for the right to be crowned Europe's best amateur side.
Former guise
Staged every two years, the competition kicks off in the Zagreb region with the hosts looking to beat off competition from Slovakian, Russian, Romanian, Bosnia-Herzegovnian, Belgian, Irish and Spanish sides to lift the trophy. The idea of a tournament for amateurs was revived by UEFA in 1996 after a previous competition, the UEFA Amateur Cup, briefly flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.
Qualifying process
The competition is open to all 53 of UEFA's member associations, provided they run a domestic championship. Generally, teams are put forward via a domestic qualifying competition on a regional basis − hence the name, Regions' Cup − although smaller associations are allowed to submit a national representative team. A series of qualifying mini-tournaments are then held to provide enough teams for an eight-team final round, from which a host is chosen.
| Group A | Group B |
| Centre Zagreb AMA (CRO) | Savez Gradiska AMA (BIH) |
| Bratislava AMA (SVK) | Kempen AMA (BEL) |
| Privolzhie AMA (RUS) | Region I AMA (IRL) |
| Oltenia AMA (ROU) | Castilla y León AMA (ESP) |
