Playoff Round Draw

By: Dan | August 7th, 2009

PAOK v. Heerenveen
Dinamo Zagreb v. Hearts
Werder Bremen v. Akotbe
Everton v. Sigma Olomouc
BATE v. Litex Lovech
NAC Breda v. Villarreal
Lech Poznan v. Club Brugge
Fulham v. Akmar Perm
Galatasaray v. Levadia
FK Teplice v. Hapoel Tel Aviv
Metalurh Donetsk v. Austria Vienna
FC Twente v. Qarabag
AS Roma v. MFK Kosice
Dinamo Moscow v. CSKA Sofia
Racing Genk v. Lille OSC
PSV Eindhoven v. Bnei Yehuda
Lazio v. Elfsborg
Trabzonspor v. Toulouse
Partizan Belgrade v. MSK Zilina
FK Baku v. Basel
Ajax Amsterdam v. Slovan Bratislava
Shakhtar Donetsk v. Sivasspor
Brøndby v. Hertha Berlin
Athletic Bilbao v. Tromsø
FK Sarajevo v. CFR Cluj
Rapid Vienna v. Aston Villa
Steaua Bucharest v. St. Patrick’s
Sparta Prague v. NK Maribor
Zenit St. Petersburg v. CD Nacional
Genoa v. Odense BK
Dinamo Bucharest v. Slovan Liberec
Guingamp v. Hamburg SV
FC Sion v. Fenerbahce
Sturm Graz v. Metalist Kharkiv
Slavia Prague v. Red Star Belgrade
Benfica v. Vorskla Poltava
Vaslui v. AEK Athens
Stabæk v. Valencia

In general, the draw was very kind to the big teams. Of course my team, Hertha Berlin ended up with one of the dangerous unseeded sides, Brøndby, while fellow Bundesliga clubs Werder Bremen and Hamburg enjoyed far better luck.

The Austrian representatives were handed stiff tests. Sturm Graz and Austria Vienna will face the metalworking sides of Kharkiv and Donetsk, respectively, and Rapid Vienna was paired with ‘top four’ pretenders Aston Villa in a tie with a nice early 80s retro ring to it.

If you have any particular wish to see Belgian clubs in the group stage, hope that Lyon sends Anderlecht out of the Champions League, because Genk and Club Brugge will have some serious work to do to get past Lille and Lech Poznan.

St. Patrick’s reward for sensationally knocking out Krylya Sovetov was an even more difficult Eastern European opponent, Steaua Bucharest. Everton supporters might want to see if there are any bargain priced English-Czech phrasebooks available in Aberdeen, as they’ll try their luck against Sigma Olomouc. Scotland’s last team in the competition, Hearts, will take on Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, while Fulham will travel to the edge of Europe, Perm is the easternmost Europe-based club in Russia, to battle Amkar Perm.

The draw for this round has put together a lot of potentially interesting match ups. How interesting they end up is going to be dependent on the performance of the underdog sides. Given the manner in which the third round played out, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for many shocks to occur.