UEFA Cup to land in Glasgow

UEFA Cup holders Sevilla FC will return the trophy to UEFA at a special handover ceremony in Glasgow at 12.00 (13.00CET) on Friday which precedes the draws for the latter stages of the competition.

Keep and display
UEFA's interim Chief Executive Gianni Infantino will receive the UEFA Cup from Sevilla representatives in the historic Old Fruitmarket at the City Halls. Mr Infantino will then hand the trophy on to the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Liz Cameron, for the city to keep and display until the 16 May final at Hampden Park. UEFA Cup final ambassador Billy McNeill, the man who captained Celtic FC when they became the first British team to be crowned European champions in 1967, and Scotland manager Alex McLeish will be among numerous prestigious guests.

Knockout draw
This season's trophy handover is being combined, for the second time, with the draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. This will be followed by another 'draw' for the final - for administrative purposes, one of the finalists will be designated the home team. In the draw, no sides will be seeded and, for the first time in this term's competition, clubs from the same national association may be drawn against each other.