uefa cup group stages draw.

[Kev the Ape]

The first-ever group stages for the Uefa Cup were drawn in Nyon, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

Middlesbrough face a tough test in Group E with Lazio and Villarreal particularly tough opposition. Gaizka Mendieta will have the chance to face his former club in Lazio while Villarreal include former Boro target Diego Forlan in their attack. Partizan Belgrade and Greek side Egaleo are the other two clubs in the group.

Newcastle United tackle Sporting Lisbon in Group D, where Hugo Viana is on loan, with Sochaux, Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi completing that section. Viana will not be allowed to play against The Magpies, United chairman Freddy Shepherd told Sky Sports News.

Hearts have a real examination in Group A with Feyenoord, Schalke, Basel and Ferencvaros all to be respected, but Rangers can expect to be favourites in Group F. Jean-Alain Boumsong will come up against the club he left to head for Ibrox in Auxerre.

Group A
Feyenoord
Schalke
Basel
Hearts
Ferencvaros

Group B
Parma
Besiktas
Athletic Bilbao
Steaua Bucharest
Standard Liege

Group C
Club Brugge
Real Zaragoza
Utrecht
Dnipr
Austria Vienna

Group D
Newcastle
Sporting Lisbon
Sochaux
Panionios
Dinamo Tbilisi

Group E
Lazio
Villarreal
Middlesbrough
Partizan Belgrade
Egaleo

Group F
Rangers
Auxerre
Grazer AK
Amica Wronki
AZ Alkmaar

Group G
Stuttgart
Benfica
Dinamo Zagreb
Heerenveen
Beveren

Group H
AEK Athens
Lille
Sevilla
Alemannia Aachen
FC Zenit

 

[B.M.F]

keep up at the back

 

[Kev the Ape]

who the hell are fc zenit??

 

[Kev the Ape]

who the hell dpnr??

 

[perth seagull]

There's a lot of obscure clubs there. UEFA hope that the introduction of a group stage to the UEFA Cup will increase TV money for the clubs, but i's hard to see fixtures like FC Zenit vs Alemannia Aachen drawing Europe-wide audiences!

 

[B.M.F]

who the hell are fc zenit??

read the thread about the draw I posted earlier mate. It will tel you all about Zenit ( a team I follow)

 

[B.M.F]

There's a lot of obscure clubs there. UEFA hope that the introduction of a group stage to the UEFA Cup will increase TV money for the clubs, but i's hard to see fixtures like FC Zenit vs Alemannia Aachen drawing Europe-wide audiences!

Zenit are a quality outfit who play attractive fast paced attacking football and have a lot of very talented young Russians in their squad. They are also top of the Russian league although they did lose to lokomotive 2 weeks ago