Europa League
 Europa
League: Ozren Podnar
The Europa League is the successor tournament to the old UEFA
Cup.
The Europa League is the second most important European football
competition after the UEFA
Champions League.
Fulham test the holders, Everton off to Lisbon again
This season's Europa League (the rebranded UEFA Cup) promises loads
of excitement from the round of 32 onwards. There are plenty of
former European competition winners (Liverpool, Everton, Valencia,
Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Shakhtar, Anderlecht,
Benfica, Hamburger, Werder, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Marseille, Juventus
and Roma) and beaten finalists (Brugge, Standard, Athletic Bilbao,
Salzburg, Twente and Panathinaikos) plus a newcomer to the continental
elite, the mighty Rubin Kazan, the Russian champions in the last
two seasons.
The English teams have had diverse luck, with Liverpool in a good
position to reach the next round over Romania's champions Unirea.
On the other hand, trouble lurks for Everton, who meet the other
Lisbon club, Sporting, after being thrashed twice by Benfica in
the group stage.
Fulham will presumably have an even tougher job against holders
Shakhtar Donetsk, but their recent 3-0 win over Manchester United
at Craven Cottage suggests that a triumph over the Ukrainians is
not so far-fetched as the teams' international record would suggest.
Elsewhere, the matches between former European champions Hamburger
and PSV as well as Ajax and Juventus should provide much emotion.
The latter two have met on numerous occasions, including two Champions
League finals, in 1973 (1-0 to Ajax) and 1996 (1-1 and 5-3 on penalties
to Juventus).
Round of 32 draw (Feb 16-25)
Club Brugge vs Valencia
Liverpool vs Unirea Urziceni
Villarreal vs Wolfsburg
Lille vs Fenerbahce
Everton vs Sporting Lisbon
Atletico Madrid vs Galatasaray
Fulham vs Shakhtar
Athletic Bilbao vs Anderlecht
Standard Lieja vs Salzburg
Rubin Kazan vs Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hertha Berlin vs Benfica
Hamburger vs PSV Eindhoven
FC Kobenhavn vs O. Marseille
Twente vs Werder Bremen
Ajax vs Juventus
Panathinaikos vs Roma
Qualification
The trophy awarded to the winning team is the same as the old UEFA
Cup. Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine were the last UEFA Cup winners
before the rebranding of the competition.
Places in the Europa League are awarded to teams who finish in
various runners-up places in the top European leagues and the winners
of the main cup competitions and the league cup winners in both
England and France. Places are also awarded to 3 teams who qualify
from UEFA's Fair Play table. The previous Intertoto Cup has been
discontinued.
Format
The current format is of 12 groups (A-L) of four teams playing
each other home and away after an initial qualification stage for
smaller nations' teams and teams losing out in the qualification
rounds for the Champions League.
The the top two teams in each group progress to two-legged knockout
rounds together with eight third placed teams from the Champions
League group stage.
The 2010 one-off final will be held at HSH
Nordbank Arena in Hamburg,
Germany. |
