Tough draw awaits unseeded Maltese teams

Spain's triumph in the Euro 2008, just completed last Sunday at the Prater Stadium in Vienna, is still fresh in our minds but today's focus shifts on club football as UEFA holds the draws for the first qualifying rounds of the Champions League and UEFA Cup at its headquarters in Nyon.

This year, Malta will be represented by Valletta, in the Champions League, and Marsaxlokk and Birkirkara, in the UEFA Cup.

With Hibernians already out of this year's Intertoto Cup first round, eliminated by Slovenia's NK Gorica 3-0 on aggregate, Maltese clubs will be hoping for better sorts this time around to make up for last year's dismal record in Europe.

In summer of 2007, Marsaxlokk (1-9 vs Sarajevo), Sliema Wanderers (0-7 vs Litex Lovech), Hibernians (1-7 vs Vojvodina) and Birkirkara (1-5 vs Maribor) failed to clear the first hurdle and the showing was so poor that none of the local teams in the UEFA draw today will be seeded.

The first qualifying round in the Champions League will be played on July 15/16 and 22/23. It involves 28 teams.

Valletta are unseeded and could be paired with some seasoned campaigners in Europe, the likes of IFK Goteborg, Anorthosis Famagusta, Dinamo Zagreb or FC Sheriff.

The draw for the second qualifying round will also be held at noon today and here opposition looks even more formidable with Rangers, Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce, Anderlecht and Dynamo Kiev, who have former Valletta forward Frank Temile on their books, among those whose names will be in the bowl awaiting the previous round survivors.

Valletta will be drawn to play against one of the following: Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), FC Artmedia (Slovakia), Domzale (Slovenia), Goteborg (Sweden), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus), Tampere United (Finland), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), Ventspils (Latvia), Rabotnicki (Macedonia), Modrica (Bosnia), Kaunas (Lithuania), FC Sheriff (Moldova), Drogheda United (Ireland) and Valur Reykjavik (Iceland).

Valletta coach Paul Zammit knows the task ahead is a difficult one but is pinning his hopes on a physically-fit squad ahead of the Euro commitments.

"European football is a completely different scenario to our league. The level of play is superior," Zammit said.

"All teams in the draw look strong but I believe that the key aspect is to reach an acceptable level of fitness ahead of the first ties. Maltese teams always find the going tough on the continent but an adequate pre-season training will see us leaving a good impression even if we fail to reach the next round."

Valletta are seeking to complete their signings this week with the addition of three new foreigners. Englishman Callum Flanagan was asked to extend his trial period by one week and four Nigerian players are expected to join Zammit's squad for training this week along with another trialist from Bosnia.

The last time Valletta played in the Champions League was in 2001. They were ousted by Finland's Haka following results of 0-0 and 0-5. Two years before, the Citizens had written a new chapter in their club's history after beating Barry Town, of Wales, 3-2 on aggregate to advance to the next round for the first time in the competition for domestic league champions.

Next year, the Champions League final will be played in Rome on May 27, 2009. The holders are Manchester United who enter the competition in the group stages, starting on September 16/17.

74 teams

The first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup will see the participation of 74 teams, among whom England's Manchester City who qualified for the early stages of the tournament through the Fair Play system.

However, there is no chance of seeing the crack Premiership side paired with either Marsaxlokk or Birkirkara as Mark Hughes's team were grouped in a different regional zone.

In fact, UEFA will again adopt the same format of previous years and separate teams in the Northern, Central-East and Southern groups.

The Maltese teams are both unseeded and could face sides from the Balkan region, Israel or Cyprus. These include: Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel), Cherno More Varna (Bulgaria), Hajduk Split (Croatia), Hapoel Ironi K. Shmona (Israel), Slaven Koprivnica (Croatia), Apoel FC (Cyprus), AC Omonia (Cyprus), IB Ljubljana (Slovenia), FC Koper (Slovenia), NK Zrinjski (Bosnia) and Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia).

The UEFA Cup final will be played at Fenerbahce's home ground, the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul, on May 20, 2009. Holders Zenit St Petersburg will be unable to defend their title as the Russian team will be playing in the Champions League next season.

Former European champions Milan, Benfica and Red Star are among the entrants in the first round proper of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup along with past winners Valencia, Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur.