2008/2009 UEFA CUP


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Round of 32
Braga - Standard
1st Leg - TBD (likely Feb.18)
@ Braga
2nd Leg - February 26, 2009
@ Standard

Winner of Braga - Standard to face the winner of PSG - Wolfsburg in the Round of 16

Group Stage

Group B
TEAMS	PLD	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS
Metalist	4	3	1	-	3	-	10
Galatasaray	4	3	-	1	4	1	9
Olympiacos	4	2	-	2	9	3	6
Hertha	4	-	2	2	1	6	2
SL Benfica	4	-	1	3	2	9	1

Matches Home - Away
Galatasaray	1-0	Olympiacos
Hertha	1-1	SL Benfica
Metalist	0-0	Hertha
SL Benfica	0-2	Galatasaray
Galatasaray	0-1	Metalist
Olympiacos	1-5	SL Benfica
Metalist	1-0	Olympiacos
Hertha	0-1	Galatasaray
Olympiacos	4-0	Hertha
SL Benfica	0-1	Metalist

Group E
TEAMS	PLD	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS
Wolfsburg	4	3	1	-	13	7	10
Milan	4	2	2	-	8	5	8
SC Braga	4	2	-	2	7	5	6
Portsmouth	4	1	1	2	7	8	4
Heerenveen	4	-	-	4	3	13	-

Matches Home - Away
Heerenveen	1-3	Milan
SC Braga	3-0	Portsmouth
Wolfsburg	5-1	Heerenveen
Milan	1-0	SC Braga
Portsmouth	2-2	Milan
SC Braga	2-3	Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg	3-2	Portsmouth
Heerenveen	1-2	SC Braga
Portsmouth	3-0	Heerenveen
Milan	2-2	Wolfsburg

First Round

Portsmouth - Guimarães
1st Leg - 1st Leg - 2-0
(View HIGHLITES)

2nd Leg - 0-2 (2-2 AET)
Scorers: Douglas 19, João Alves 32
(View HIGHLITES)

Portmouth advances 4-2 on aggregate.

Marítimo - Valencia
1st Leg - 0-1

2nd Leg - 1-2
Scorer: Marcinho 41
(View HIGHLITES)

Valencia advances 3-1 on aggregate.

Napoli - Benfica
1st Leg - 3-2
Scorers: Suazo 16, Luisão 59
(View HIGHLITES; 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2)

2nd Leg - 0-2
Scorers: Reyes 57, Nuno Gomes 84
(View HIGHLITES)

Benfica advances 4-3 on aggregate.

Setúbal - Heerenveen
1st Leg - 1-1
Scorer: Leandro Carrijo 67

2nd Leg - 2-5
Scorers: Bruno Gama 57, Ricardo Chaves 64
(View HIGHLITES)

Heerenveen advances 6-3 on aggregate.

Braga - Artmedia
1st Leg - 4-0
Scorers: Evaldo 3, Meyong 18, 31(pen), 76

2nd Leg - 2-0
Scorer: Luis Aguiar 11(pen), 31
(View HIGHLITES)

Braga advances 6-0 on aggregate.



2nd Qualifying Round

SC Braga - Zrinjski
1st Leg - 1-0
Scorer: Linz 67'
2nd Leg - 2-0
Scorers: César Peixoto 56, Matheus 90+ 3

COMPETITION INFORMATION

The UEFA Cup was introduced for the 1971/72 season and features clubs that have qualified for the tournament from a variety of routes.

Fairs Cup
The UEFA Cup is the successor of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was founded on 18 April 1955. The Fairs Cup involved representative sides from cities in Europe that regularly held trade fairs. In 1971 the competition broke its ties with the international trade fairs and came under the auspices of UEFA.

Competitions merge
From 1999/00, domestic cup winners also qualified for the UEFA Cup after the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was disbanded. In addition, clubs eliminated from the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and the eight third-placed finishers at the end of the group stage of the same competition entered the competition. The 2008/09 UEFA Cup also included three Fair Play representatives, eleven winners from the last UEFA Intertoto Cup and winners of some selected domestic league cup competitions. A group stage was introduced for the first time in 2004/05 involving 40 teams playing four games.

UEFA Europa League

On 26 September 2008, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that from 2009/10 the competition would become the UEFA Europa League.

From the 2009-10 season, the competition will be rebranded as the UEFA Europa League in a bid to increase the competition's profile.

A new format for the UEFA Europa League will be introduced for the three-year cycle, starting in the 2009-10 season. The biggest change is that there will be a group stage with 12 groups of four teams (in a double round robin) instead of eight groups of five (in a single round robin). Apart from that, the qualification will change significantly.

Associations ranked 7-9 in the UEFA coefficients will send the Cup winner and 3 other teams to the UEFA Europa League qualification, all other nations send a Cup winner and 2 other teams, except Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino, who will only send a Cup winner. Usually, the other teams will be the next highest ranked clubs in each domestic league after those participating in the Champions League, however France and England will most likely continue to use one spot for their League Cup winner. Additionally, 3 places in the first of four qualifying rounds are still reserved for Fair Play winners.

Generally, the higher an association is ranked in the UEFA coefficients, the later its clubs start in the qualification, however every team except the title holder has to play at least one qualification round.

Apart from the teams mentioned, an additional 15 losing teams from the Champions League qualification round 2 will enter in the fourth and last UEFA Europa League qualification round, formerly known as the first round, and the 10 losers of the Champions League qualification round 3 will directly enter the UEFA Europa League group stage. The 12 winners and the 12 runners-up in the group stage will advance to the first knock out round, together with 8 3rd placed teams from the Champions League.

Like the UEFA Cup, the Intertoto Cup will be folded into the UEFA Europa League, much like the Cup Winners' Cup had been in the late 1990s.

Cup winners who have already qualified for European competition via league placing will no longer hand their UEFA Europa League slot to the losing finalist. Their place in the competition will instead devolve onto the highest-placed team in the league not yet in European competition.

Italian control
Tottenham Hotspur FC were the first UEFA Cup champions in 1971/72, and English teams have gone on to win the tournament six times. Italian clubs, however, have been most successful with nine victories, including three apiece for Juventus and FC Internazionale Milano. Only Liverpool FC, who last triumphed in 2001, can claim as many UEFA Cup wins.

Eligibility
It is open to teams finishing in leading positions behind the champions in their domestic top flights, the winners of national cup competitions, the winners of the League Cup in certain countries, the eleven winners of the final matches in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and three clubs from UEFA's Fair Play League.

Additional qualifiers
Certain national champions that do not qualify for the UEFA Champions League in a particular season also participate in that term's UEFA Cup. In addition, the eight third-placed clubs at the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage drop into the UEFA Cup, in time for the tournament's knockout phase.

Ranking list
The number of sides that can be entered by a national association, and their entry point in the competition, depends on the association's position in UEFA's coefficient ranking and can vary from year to year. The UEFA Cup was traditionally a straight knockout tournament with ties on a home-and-away basis. The final was also held over two legs until the 1997/98 campaign, since when it has been a single match in a neutral stadium.

For more information on how many European competition positions will be granted to the each country (based on UEFA Coefficient Ranking) please visit the following website:
UEFA Coefficient Rankings

Group stage
The format was changed in 2004/05, however, when for the first time a group stage was introduced. Two qualifying rounds produce a first round of 80 teams who play over two legs to find the 40 clubs that make up the group stage. This phase comprises eight groups of five, with each side playing four games, two at home and two away. The winners, runners-up and third-placed teams from each section advance to the last 32 where they are joined by the eight third-placed clubs from the UEFA Champions League. Here, the traditional two-match knockout format resumes, until the final.

Knockout format
For two-legged knockout ties, the side scoring the greater aggregate of goals qualifies for the next round. In the event of both clubs scoring the same number of goals, the team with more away goals prevails. If this proves inconclusive, extra time and then, if necessary, penalties are used to decide the winner. Extra time and penalties also determine the victor if the final is drawn at the end of 90 minutes.

Final
The final is decided by a single match. The UEFA Cup final will visit a new city this season as the competition ends at Istanbul's Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium on Wednesday 20 May 2009.

Tiebreaking format
If in the group stage of the UEFA Cup two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria are applied to determine the group rankings:

1. Superior goal difference from all group matches played;
2. Higher number of goals scored;
3. Higher number of goals scored away;
4. Higher number of wins;
5. Higher number of away wins;
6. Coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons

Regulations
The regulations for the UEFA Cup are initially drawn up by the UEFA Administration before being submitted to the Club Competitions Committee. They are then forwarded upon that committee's approval to the UEFA Executive Committee for ratification.

Current regulations
The current regulations can be downloaded here.
(Adobe Acrobat required)

Previous Winners
2007 - 2008 FC Zenit St. Petersburg
2006 - 2007 Sevilla FC
2005 - 2006 Sevilla FC
2004 - 2005 PFC CSKA Moskva
2003 - 2004 Valencia CF
2002 - 2003 FC Porto
2001 - 2002 Feyenoord
2000 - 2001 Liverpool FC
1999 - 2000 Galatasaray AS
1998 - 1999 Parma FC
1997 - 1998 FC Internazionale Milano
1996 - 1997 FC Schalke 04
1995 - 1996 FC Bayern München
1994 - 1995 Parma FC
1993 - 1994 FC Internazionale Milano
1992 - 1993 Juventus
1991 - 1992 AFC Ajax
1990 - 1991 FC Internazionale Milano
1989 - 1990 Juventus
1988 - 1989 SSC Napoli
1987 - 1988 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
1986 - 1987 IFK Göteborg
1985 - 1986 Real Madrid CF
1984 - 1985 Real Madrid CF
1983 - 1984 Tottenham Hotspur FC
1982 - 1983 RSC Anderlecht
1981 - 1982 IFK Göteborg
1980 - 1981 Ipswich Town FC
1979 - 1980 Eintracht Frankfurt
1978 - 1979 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach
1977 - 1978 PSV Eindhoven
1976 - 1977 Juventus
1975 - 1976 Liverpool FC
1974 - 1975 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach
1973 - 1974 Feyenoord
1972 - 1973 Liverpool FC
1971 - 1972 Tottenham Hotspur FC

Official Ball

The official UEFA Cup match ball (“official ball”) must be used for all matches as from the quarter-finals and for the official training sessions prior to such matches. The official ball will be supplied to the clubs by UEFA in due time.

Officially presented during the draw for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup 2007/08 held in Nyon, Switzerland, this is the ball that was used for the Final. Manufactured by Nike, it is called UEFA Cup Conquest. The Final of last season’s UEFA Cup was hosted by the City of Manchester Stadium.

The base colour of the ball is white, with triangular blue designs, and touches of bright green. The design of the ball has five layers. The technology used ensures that the ball can be used in all weather conditions, and still remains agile and flexible. This is due to the use of cross-linking and nitrogen-expanded foam. Also, compressed polyethylene acts as a store of energy, resulting in the best possible reaction on impact. Structure and stability are boosted by the use of polyester support material.

The UEFA Cup Conquest Final match ball was distributed to shops for resale as from the 15th March.


Official Trophy

The trophy itself, which weighs 15kg and is silver on a yellow marble plinth, was designed and crafted by the Bertoni workshops in Milan for the 1972 final. It has no handles, its beauty lying in its simplicity. Just above the plinth, a group of players seem to be jostling for the ball. In fact they are supporting the octagonal cup which is emblazoned with the UEFA emblem.



Title-holder logo
The reigning title-holder may wear the UEFA Cup title-holder logo badge (if available), subject to a licence granted by UEFA. UEFA will provide the clubconcerned with sufficient badges to cover its needs (as determined by UEFA) throughout the competition. The UEFA Cup title-holder logo may not be used in any other competition.

Note:
As this rule was introduced for the 2008/2009 season, the badge has not been created as of yet as the current title holders, FC Zenit, are participating in the UEFA Champions League.

Competition logo badge
As from and including the first round, the UEFA Cup competition logo badge must appear on the right sleeve of the shirt, between the shoulder seam and the elbow. UEFA will provide the clubs concerned with sufficient badges to cover their needs (as determined by UEFA) throughout the competition. The UEFA Cup logo may not be used in any other competition.


Official Song



2008/2009 Match Calendar

First qualifying round
1st leg 17.07.2008
2nd leg 31.07.2008
Second qualifying round
1st leg 14.08.2008
2nd leg 28.08.2008
First round
1st leg 18.09.2008
2nd leg 02.10.2008
Group stage
Matchday 1
23.10.2008
Matchday 2
06.11.2008
Matchday 3
27.11.2008
Matchday 4
03/04.12.2008
Matchday 5
17/18.12.2008
Round of 32
1st leg 18/19.02.2009
2nd leg 26.02.2009
Round of 16
1st leg 12.03.2009
2nd leg 18/19.03.2009
Quarter-finals
1st leg 09.04.2009
2nd leg 16.04.2009
Semi-finals
1st leg 30.04.2009
2nd leg 07.05.2009
Final
20.05.2009