© EuroFootball.com
On Tuesday at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the draw for the group stage of the UEFA Cup took place for the first time, dividing teams into eight groups.
One of the strongest groups will likely be for the "Lazio" club, which has the best coefficient in the tournament, who will face last season's semi-finalist "Villarreal", England's cup winner "Middlesbrough", Serbia's strongest team "Partizan" and Greek side "Egaleos".
Group A also looks strong - three years ago tournament winners "Feyenoord" will face Intertoto Cup champions "Schalke" this time, as well as the strongest Swiss and Hungarian teams "Basel" and "Ferencvarosi" respectively. The group will also include Scottish side "Hearts", recently bought by Lithuanian businessman V. Romanovas.
Portuguese champions "Benfica" will compete in Group G alongside one of Germany's best clubs "Stuttgart", while Italian side "Parma" will face "Besiktas" in Group B. In Group D, "Newcastle" will battle it out with teams from "Sporting" and "Sochaux", while Rangers' main rival in Group F will be the team of "Auxerre".
Meanwhile, the only tournament club to have two Lithuanians within its ranks is the Russian champions "Zenit", who made it to one of the most balanced groups, Group H.
Each team will play two matches at home and two away. Matches will take place on October 21st, November 25th, December 1st or 2nd, as well as on the 15th or 16th of the month. The top three teams from each group will advance to the round of sixteen, joined by eight teams who finished third in their respective Champions League groups.
Group stage draw:
Group A
Rotterdam "Feyenoord" (Netherlands)
Gelsenkirchen "Schalke" (Germany)
"Basel" (Switzerland)
Edinburgh "Hearts" (Scotland)
Budapest "Ferencvarosi" (Hungary)
Group B
"Parma" (Italy)
Istanbul "Besiktas" (Turkey)
"Athletic Bilbao" (Spain)
Bucharest "Steaua" (Romania)
Liege "Standard" (Belgium)
Group C
"Brugge" (Belgium)
Zaragoza "Real" (Spain)
"Utrecht" (Netherlands)
Dnipropetrovsk "Dnipro" (Ukraine)
Vienna "Austria" (Austria)
Group D
"Newcastle United" (England)
Lisbon "Sporting" (Portugal)
"Sochaux" (France)
Athens "Panionios" (Greece)
Tbilisi "Dinamo" (Georgia)
Group E
Rome "Lazio" (Italy)
"Villarreal" (Spain)
"Middlesbrough" (England)
Belgrade "Partizan" (Serbia and Montenegro)
Athens "Egaleo" (Greece)
Group F
Glasgow "Rangers" (Scotland)
"Auxerre" (France)
"Grazer AK" (Austria)
"Amica Wronki" (Poland)
"Alkmaar" (Netherlands)
Group G
"Stuttgart" (Germany)
Lisbon "Benfica" (Portugal)
Zagreb "Dinamo" (Croatia)
Heerenveen (Netherlands)
"Beveren" (Belgium)
Group H
Athens "AEK" (Greece)
"Lille" (France)
"Sevilla" (Spain)
"Alemannia Aachen" (Germany)
St. Petersburg "Zenit" (Russia)
