Inaugural group stage draws closer

Famous names
The first round was completed last Thursday night, when a number of famous names won through. Former European champions SL Benfica, Feyenoord and FC Steaua Bucuresti were chief among them, with past UEFA Cup winners FC Schalke 04 and Parma FC also progressing. The Netherlands and Spain are represented by four teams, while France, Germany, Greece and Belgium each have three clubs still in contention.

Top seeds Lazio
The qualifiers have been divided into five pools of eight teams based on their UEFA coefficient. S.S. Lazio are the top seeds, and FC Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia the bottom. A team from each seeding pool will be assigned to a group, although clubs from the same national association cannot be drawn together.

Computer draw
When the draw concludes - with eight groups of five teams - a computer draw will take place to determine the fixture schedule with factors such as stadium clashes and climatic conditions (it is not possible to play in some northern countries in mid-December) taken into account.

Three through
Each club will play two matches at home and two away on the following dates: 21 October, 4 November, 25 November 1/2 December, 15/16 December. The winners, runners-up and third-placed clubs from each group advance to the last 32 where they are joined by the eight third-placed clubs from the UEFA Champions League group stage. At this point, the traditional two-match format is used with the exception of the final.

Lisbon final
The competition concludes at the Estádio José Alvalade on 18 May 2005. The stadium's home team, Sporting Clube de Portugal, are still in the competition, finding themselves among the second set of seeds along with the likes of UEFA Intertoto Cup winners Villarreal CF, LOSC Lille Métropole and Schalke.