Intertoto Cup, Round 1, 1st Leg: Europe Kicks Off

By: Ian Rose | June 25th, 2007

After that grueling 30 days that is the off-season, the first European tournament football of 2007-2008 has finally arrived, in the form of the 2007 Intertoto Cup. Over three rounds, 48 teams will vie for 11 spots in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. 26 of these teams begin their European campaigns in the most humble of places, the Intertoto Cup’s first round. Last year, the big surprise from the first round was Ethnikos Achnas from Cyprus, who went all the way through Intertoto and then won their first match in the UEFA Cup as well, only missing out on the group stage by a 2-goal loss to Lens, a relative Goliath. Who will be the small-town heroes this year?

After the first leg of the first round, a few have separated themselves from the herd of 26 hopefuls. NK Maribor (Slovenia), who also turned in an impressive run last season, started off strong with a 3-0 away win at Birkirkara of Malta. Also enjoying great starts on the road were Ireland’s Cork City (2-0) and Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava (2-0).

Overall, it was a very competitive first weekend in European play, with eight of the thirteen matches either draws or one-goal wins. Last year’s heroes Ethnikos took their opening home leg, but only 1-0, and will be nervous of an early exit this weekend when they travel to Macedonia for the second.

And now, just to get you in the mood, here’s some Croatian NK Zagreb fans singing their side to a 2-1 victory on Saturday. After the video are all thirteen of the first leg’s scores.

Gloria Bistrita (Romania) 2-1 FK Grbalj (Montenegro)
KN Zagreb (Croatia) 2-1 Villaznia (Albania)
Ethnikos Achnas (Cyprus) 1-0 FK Gorce Petrov (Macedonia)
Birkirkara (Malta) 0-3 NK Maribor (Slovenia)
Sant Julia (Andorra) 2-3 FK Slavija (Bosnia)
FC Tobol (Kazakhstan) 3-0 Zestafoni (Georgia)
Shakhtyor (Belarus) 4-1 Ararat Yerevan (Armenia)
FK Baku (Azerbaijan) 1-1 Dacia Chisinau (Moldova)
Differdange 03 (Luxembourg) 0-2 Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Cliftonville (No. Ireland) 1-1 Dinaburg (Latvia)
Hamarby IF (Sweden) 1-0 Ki Klaksvik (Faroe Islands)
Honka (Finland) 0-0 TVMK (Estonia)
Valur (Iceland) 0-2 Cork City (Ireland)
Vetra (Lithuania) 3-1 Llaneli (Wales)