Newcastle awarded Intertoto Cup

Newcastle United FC will be awarded the UEFA Intertoto Cup outright after getting further in the UEFA Cup than any of their ten fellow winners of the summer competition.

Group stage success
In a new format this year, eleven teams rather than three came through the Intertoto event, entering the UEFA Cup in the second qualifying round, a stage earlier than before. Of those Newcastle, Grasshopper-Club, OB Odense and AJ Auxerre reached the group stage, and only the English club earned a place in last Friday's Round of 32 draw, where they were given a tie against SV Zulte Waregem.

Presentation
There will now be a presentation of the trophy, which has not previously been awarded outright since becoming a UEFA competition in 1995, before the second leg of that match on 22 February at St. James' Park. Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder, whose team defeated Lillestrøm SK 4-1 on aggregate to earn their UEFA Cup berth, said: "This is a little bit of a reward for the boys who had to come back on 26 June to play in the competition." The club's last European trophy was the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and they now hope to become the first Intertoto qualifiers to lift the UEFA Cup, with the previous best run being FC Girondins de Bordeaux reaching the 1995/96 final.