UEFA Cup 2008-09 – First Round DRAW

One day after that of the Champions League, the draw for the First Round of the UEFA Cup 2008-09 took place in Monaco Friday.

Lots of teams involved, but of course right now we’re only concerned with the Serie A clubs, which didn’t fare too badly to be quite honest.
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2008/09 UEFA Cup
First Round
to be played September 18 and October 02

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Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund
vs
Udinese
Udinese
AC Milan
AC Milan
vs
Zürich
FC Zürich
Sampdoria
Sampdoria
vs
Kaunas
FBK Kaunas
Napoli
Napoli
vs
Benfica
SL Benfica


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AC Milan probably have it easiest facing against FC Zürich, who came in 3rd last year in the Swiss Super League (after having won it in 2006 and 2007). Some of the Rossoneri will remember their stadium (Letzigrund), because Italy played two of their Euro 2008 games there (vs. Romania and France). Looking back at ancient history one also finds that, believe it or not, Zürich also managed to reach the Semi-finals of the European Champions Cup (now called UEFA Champions League) in 1964 and 1977. Ya, we’re all thinking the same thing: eons ago.

Sampdoria will play against FBK Kaunas, current Lithuanian champions. Wow… Lithuania? Easy right? Not so much. FYI, these guys eliminated Glasgow Rangers in the UCL second qualifying round (2-1 aggregate), then went on to lose 0-4 aggregate to Aalborg. Hard to gauge therefore. With Antonio Cassano in fine form though, Walter Mazzarri’s boys should breeze through.

As for Udinese and Napoli, well… the draw could have been better. The North-Eastern Bianconeri were a seeded team, but still managed to pick Borussia Dortmund (a team with a prestigious football past, but which in the past 5-6 years has been doing sh*t), while the Azzurri probably got one of the toughest opponents in SL Benfica (who by the way just signed striker David Suazo from Inter today).
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Full UEFA Cup First Round Draw

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APOEL
vs.
Schalke
Nordsjælland
vs.
Olympiacos
Slaven
vs.
CSKA Moskva
Brøndby
vs.
Rosenborg
Cherno More
vs.
Stuttgart
Rennes
vs.
Twente
Borac
vs.
Ajax
Tottenham
vs.
Wisła Kraków
Moskva
vs.
København
Žilina
vs.
Levski
Dortmund
vs.
Udinese
Braga
vs.
Artmedia
Feyenoord
vs.
Kalmar
Hamburg
vs.
AFC Unirea Urziceni
H. Tel-Aviv
vs.
St-Étienne
Litex
vs.
Aston Villa
Austria Wien
vs.
Lech Poznań
Setúbal
vs.
Heerenveen
Brann
vs.
Deportivo
Slavia
vs.
Vaslui
AC Milan
vs.
Zürich
FC Timişoara
vs.
Partizan
Hertha
vs.
St Patrick’s
Baník
vs.
Spartak Moskva
Beşiktaş
vs.
Metalist
Portsmouth
vs.
Guimarães
Kayserispor
vs.
PSG
Sevilla
vs.
Salzburg
Wolfsburg
vs.
Rapid Bucureşti
Sampdoria
vs.
Kaunas
Marítimo
vs.
Valencia
Dinamo Zagreb
vs.
Sparta
Omonia
vs.
Man. City
Young Boys
vs.
Club Brugge
Nancy
vs.
Motherwell
Everton
vs.
Standard
Napoli
vs.
Benfica
Bellinzona
vs.
Galatasaray AŞ
NEC
vs.
Dinamo Bucureşti
Racing
vs.
Honka

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