Draw takes Trabzonspor back to Cyprus

Police in Cyprus will be on full alert after Trabzonspor of Turkey were drawn to play a Cypriot team in European competition for the second successive season yesterday.

Trabzonspor will face APOEL Nicosia in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup next month a year after playing and surprisingly losing 3-2 on aggregate to Anorthosis in the Champions League second qualifying round.

The first leg against APOEL is scheduled to be played in Nicosia on August 10 with the return in Turkey on August 24.

Nicosia has been a divided city since intercommunal violence bet-ween Greek and Turkish Cypriots in 1963 and 1964.

A decade later Turkish forces invaded northern Cyprus after a brief Greek inspired coup, cementing walls of division in the capital.

Cyprus police said they will be on full alert for the match and will begin planning their security measures on Monday. The situation surrounding Trabzonspor's visit last year was heated, but there was no trouble.

Last year's matches were also the first time that Greek Cypriot and Turkish footballers had met in a senior UEFA competition since 1974.

Andis Polydorou, a member of APOEL's board said after hearing of the draw:

"Things will not be easy. Everybody knows what these matches mean. But we are ready to face all challenges.

"Trabzonspor is a very good and strong team - but our team is also very strong this year. We have signed some top class players and with the ones we had already, we are ready to fight for the best. Anorthosis did it last year and we hope we can do it now."

The tie is one of 32 in the second qualifying round of the competition.

UEFA will also be monitoring the situation regarding the three Israeli clubs taking part because of the conflict between Israeli and Hizbollah forces in Lebanon.

Bnei Yehuda of Israel have been drawn to play Lokomotiv Sofia of Bulgaria; Hapoel face Domzale of Slovenia and Betar Jerusalem face Dinamo Bucharest of Romania.

There is a possibility that Israeli clubs will have to play all of their home matches in a neutral country - very possibly Cyprus.