UEFA draws in Nyon today
Birkirkara seeded in Champions League<br>Tough for Sliema, Hibs in Southern Mediterranean pot
The World Cup in Germany is still half-way through but club football in Europe today shifts its focus to the UEFA draws in Nyon for the first qualifying rounds of the 2006/07 Champions League and UEFA Cup.
May saw Spanish teams Barcelona and Sevilla being crowned European champions and UEFA Cup winners respectively after victories in the two finals against English teams Arsenal and Middlesbrough.
However, today's draw will only involve minnow teams from Europe with the elite sides entering the frame in the second or third qualifying rounds of both competitions.
In the Champions League, the first qualifying round, which sees the participation of Maltese champions Birkirkara, will be played over two legs - July 11/12 and July 18/19.
This round features 22 teams, all of whom are domestic title-holders. Birkirkara were seeded and face one of the following teams next month - Shakhtyor Soligorsk (Belarus), Cork City (Ireland), Elbasani (Albania), Pyunik (Armenia), FC Tallinn (Estonia), Linfield (N. Ireland), New Saints (Wales), FK Baku (Azerbaijan), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), FK Aktobe (Kazakhstan) or B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands).
The second qualifying round will be played on July 25/26 and August 1/2. The winners will advance to the third qualifying round. The 32 teams at this stage will be vying for entry to the group stages of the Champions League.
The 16 automatic qualifiers are: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United, Juventus, Milan, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Olympiakos, Anderlecht and Celtic.
The European Cup final will be played in Athens while Glasgow will stage the UEFA Cup final next year.
70 clubs in the hat
UEFA said 70 clubs will be involved in the first qualifying round UEFA Cup draw at noon today.
Again, teams were split according to geographical positions and seeded into three groups.
Malta will be represented by Sliema Wanderers, the league runners-up, and Hibs, the FA Trophy winners. Both were ranked among the unseeded clubs in the Southern Mediterranean part of the draw.
There are no relatively weak opponents here with the seeded teams being Litex Lovech, CSKA Sofia, Lokomotiv Sofia (all Bulgaria), Rapid Bucharest, Dinamo Bucharest (both Romania), NK Varteks, Rijeka (both Croatia), KSV Roeselare (Belgium), Apoel (Cyprus), Domzale (Slovenia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia).
The 35 winners from this two-legged round, to be played on July 13 and 27, will progress to the the second qualifying round where they will be joined by a further 29 teams, including 11 Intertoto Cup winners.
The 32 survivors of the second qualifying round (August 10 and 24) will advance to the first round proper (September 14 and 28). At this stage, 48 other teams will join in, including holders Sevilla and the 16 teams eliminated in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
Maltese clubs were knocked out at the first stage of the two main Euro competitions last season.
In the Champions League, Sliema Wanderers went down to Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol 6-1 on aggregate while Birkirkara and Hibs both suffered 6-0 aggregate defeats to Cypriot clubs Apoel Nicosia and Omonia Nicosia respectively in the UEFA Cup.