Modest champions daring to dream

Fear will not be a factor for the smallest sides in the Champions Route as uefa.com wraps up reaction from the ten domestic titleholders in the UEFA Champions League play-off round.

Next draws
Overall winners in the five ties – played on 18/19 and 25/26 August - will earn a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage, with losing sides having the consolation of a spot in the equivalent phase of the UEFA Europa League. The draw for the former will be held in Monaco on Thursday 27 August at 18.00CET, with the UEFA Europa League draw taking place on Friday 28 August at 13.30(tbc).

FC Sheriff v Olympiacos CFP
Leonid Kuchuk, Sheriff coach
We have got the strongest of all the teams in the draw, but that will make things so much more interesting for us. Our task remains the same – to reach the group stage. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't have worked so hard. Unfortunately, I will be suspended for the first match, but maybe it's better. It's easier to see the game from the stands and my team is disciplined, so my absence from the bench shouldn't affect them. The games against Slavia exposed some weaknesses, so we will work on them and prepare for tough play-offs.

Antonis Nikopolidis, Olympiacos goalkeeper
It's a good draw for us. All that remains is to find out how our opponents play. We must be cautious. It is better just to take things as they come, make sure we play well in both legs of the tie and then we can speak about the group stage when the time comes. It is not possible to compare Olympiacos with Sheriff. They are an unknown quantity for us. They have nothing to lose. If we play as the Olympiacos we all know and do not underestimate them, then there will be no problem for us. We all know that Cypriot football has made great steps forward so it was good we avoided APOEL because there is always the added fact that teams from Cyprus always want to beat Greek teams.

FC Salzburg v Maccabi Haifa FC
Huub Stevens, Salzburg coach
Maccabi Haifa is no easy draw – it's the opposite. Israeli football is generally very strong and their champions should be tough to play against. I don't know the team, but I do know they are doing some excellent youth work there. We will analyse and study them.

Heinz Hochhauser, Salzburg sporting director
Maccabi Haifa were definitely not my preferred opponents. The draw gives us the longest journey possible, and it is very hot in Israel at that time of year. We know only a tiny amount about them but we will quickly assemble information and try to watch them play once or twice, then we will look at reaching the next round. Maybe it is a good omen to play at home first, like we did against Bohemians and Zagreb.

Elisha Levi, Haifa coach
This is without a doubt the toughest team we could have drawn. We will do our best to advance, and at least we are the hosts for the return. We will try and get the best possible result in the first leg which will be played on their synthetic pitch, but the main thing is bring the decider back home.

Yaniv Katan, Haifa captain
Salzburg are a very good, experienced side. It will be a very tough contest and from today we are all focused on the task at hand – reaching the group stage.

FK Venstpils v FC Zürich
Roman Grygorchuk, Ventspils coach 
I didn't care who we got. All five seeded teams probably wanted to play against Ventspils, as we are not known at this level. I am completely calm about playing Zürich. Of course, they're the champions of Switzerland and a very high-class team. They're the favourites. I hope our old goalkeeper Andris Vaņins, who plays for FC Sion now, will give us some information about them. Gathering information and preparing in the best possible way are our main goals now. We play the first match at home, and that is hopefully a good sign – we also started at home against F91 Dudelange and BATE Borisov.

Bernard Challandes, Zürich coach
Ventspils beat the Belarussian champions and they have some very experienced Latvian internationals. Otherwise, I don't really know much about them, but they are sure to be an opponent that are of a similar standard to us.

Fredy Bickel, Zürich general manager
The games against Ventspils will be hot stuff. Every opponent would have had its advantages and disadvantages, like the artificial turf in Salzburg, but Ventspils are stronger than many think. Also, we have seen in the two games against Maribor that there are simply no easy opponents around anymore.

FC København v APOEL FC
Ståle Solbakken, København coach
I do not know a lot about them right now, but if APEOL are as good as Famagusta were when they reached the group stage last season, we are definitely in for a difficult game. Plus, we would of course have preferred to finish the tie at home.

Ivan Jovanović, APOEL coach
København were definitely the toughest team we could have drawn in the group along with Olympiacos. They are a very good side and both games will be very difficult. I believe that that they will be tougher opponents than Partizan.

PFC Levski Sofia v Debreceni VSC
Ratko Dostanić, Levski coach
We will definitely have to give everything in the first leg at home and get a good result. We must scout our opponents very well. We will not underestimate them as they are the champions of Hungary. We have plenty of time to prepare for the games.

András Herczeg, Debrecen coach
It is never easy at this level. I don't know too much about Levski but we have the second lowest coefficient ranking after the Moldovan champions. We started at home against Kalmar and we finished home against Levadia; we have done it both ways so it will not be a problem to kick off in Sofia.