UEFA Cup returns … World collectively shrugs

By: Ian Rose | February 12th, 2008

I have no illusions. I know that the second-tier continental football cup of Europe is hardly everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s mine, dammit, and I am excited to say that tomorrow, my favorite football tournament on Earth, the UEFA Cup, returns, with the first leg of the Round of 32.

123 teams entered this year’s UEFA Cup qualifying. 99 have gone home. Eight more have been added from the third-place dropouts of the Champions League groups. And there we have it. 32 teams, all vying for the strange Silver Blender that is the UEFA Cup. Here are the fixtures. If you’re a fan of one of these 32 illustrious sides, get out there and support your boys. If not, you probably aren’t even reading this. For more information, please follow the links to individual teams’ Offside blogs.

There’s also a bit of history at stake, as this will be the last season of the Intertoto Cup. Hamburg and Atletico Madrid are the two remaining Intertoto teams, and whichever one gets farthest in the UEFA Cup takes home this even-less-treasured piece of hardware.

Wednesday, 13 February 2008
AEK Athens v Getafe
Anderlecht v Bordeaux
Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen
Marseille v Spartak Moscow
PSV v Helsingborgs IF
Rangers v Panathinaikos
SK Brann v Everton
Sporting v Basle
Werder Bremen v Braga
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal

Thursday, 14 February 2008
Aberdeen v Bayern Munich
Benfica v Nurnburg
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
FC Zurich v Hamburg
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Slavia Prague v Tottenham

Category: UEFA Cup

Tags: Fixtures, Round of 32, UEFA Cup

« UEFA Cup Rounds of 32 and 16 drawn | Home | Wednesday UEFA Cup wrap-up »

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Comments  

• Corey |  February 12th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

  
  
  

  I dont shrug Ian, I love watching it while I sit in class. If UEFA would market it better and give it a better schedule and leave CL 3rd place teams out then I think it would really gain in popularity.

  Posted from United States

  

• Cerberus |  February 12th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

  
  
  

  I love the UEFA Cup (usually because that’s the one the teams I support are more likely to end up in).

  I hadn’t heard about the end of the Intertoto Cup though. What happened?

  Posted from United States

  

• Ian |  February 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  
  
  

  The most recent revamp of the UEFA tournament rules only got attention for the Champions League changes (mostly helping the top few teams in the top few leagues get even easier access to the group stage), but also on the list of changes was the end of the Intertoto Cup, or at least in UEFA’s part in it. At the very least, Intertoto winners will no longer get UEFA Cup spots, so I won’t be covering it on this blog anymore, but I think that it’s altogether dead. Frankly, I only really like it because it’s the first competitive football of the season and gives me some summer football.

  Posted from United States

  

• Ian |  February 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

  
  
  

  Corey - I totally agree. It’s a great tournament, but UEFA exists these days for the big (CL) teams. They treat the UEFA Cup like a chore, when it gives us great games every year, and is in my opinion a much better way to compare leagues than the CL. I also agree with you that they should cut out the 8 teams from the CL. It’s a second tier tournament, not a second chance for losing teams.

  Posted from United States

  

• Chris |  February 12th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

  
  
  

  Couldn’t agree more about leaving out the 3rd place CL teams. I love the UEFA Cup and I agree that it’s a better measure of a league’s top-to-bottom strength as opposed to the CL.

  B-T-W Ian, there is a Hamburg blog on The Offside too. And we’re taking the damn Intertoto Cup from Atletico!

  Posted from United States

  

• Sam |  February 12th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

  
  
  

  Woo! Let’s do it!

  Posted from Canada

  

• Ian |  February 12th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

  
  
  

  Crap, Chris - sorry. I could have sworn I added the Hamburg link. Doing it now - apologies, mate.

  Posted from United States

  

• Musab |  February 13th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  
  
  

  ehhh, 0-0 at home ‘gainst Leverkusen. Not tooo bad. All we need is a draw over there.

  Posted from United States

  

• cfc069 |  February 13th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

  
  
  

  Everton 1-0 at SK Brann after 60 mins - Leon Osman scored

  KTBFFH

  Posted from United States

  

• cfc069 |  February 13th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

  
  
  

  88 mins Anichebe makes it 2-0 Everton against SK Brann

  KTBFFH

  Posted from United States

  

• cfc069 |  February 13th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

  
  
  

  Everton full-time in UEFA Cup

  won 2-0 and I aint shrugging and I will watch the Tottingham game against Slavia Prague tomorrow nite.

  Posted from United States

  

• john |  February 14th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

  
  
  

  Aupa Geta!!!

  Posted from United States

  

Comments are closed