Champions League hopefuls eye qualifying draws
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
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Last season's group stage contenders FK Partizan are among 36 teams involved in the draw for the first and second qualifying rounds, streamed live on UEFA.com from 12.00CET on Monday.
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One of last season's UEFA Champions League group stage participants, FK Partizan, and fellow alumni APOEL FC, SK Sturm Graz, FC BATE Borisov, Rosenborg BK, Maccabi Haifa FC, HJK Helsinki, NK Maribor and NK Dinamo Zagreb will all have an interest when the first and second qualifying round draws are made on Monday. Events from Nyon will be streamed live on UEFA.com from 12.00CET.
Those nine sides and 1979 European Champion Clubs' Cup runners-up Malmö FF are among 32 teams given byes to the second stage. There they will be joined by two of F91 Dudelange, Valletta FC, FC Santa Coloma and SP Tre Fiori, who contest the first qualifying round on 28/29 June and 5/6 July. Two of those teams will be seeded according to their coefficients and each drawn against the other pair.
In the second qualifying round draw that immediately follows, the teams entering at that stage will be split into three groups, containing 17 seeded and 15 unseeded clubs (the two first qualifying round winners also go into the latter pot), who will then be matched.
The ties take place on 12/13 and 19/20 July with the winners already knowing their opponents when they join 13 sides in the third qualifying round draw on 15 July.
A total of 76 teams in all have entered the 2011/12 edition, 22 starting in the group stage. The tournament concludes with the final at the Fußball Arena München on Saturday 19 May.
First qualifying round draw
Seeded: F91 Dudelange (LUX), Valletta FC (MLT)
Unseeded: FC Santa Coloma (AND), SP Tre Fiori (SMN)
Second qualifying round draw
Group 1
Seeded: Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR), APOEL FC (CYP), PFC Loven Lovech (BUL), ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), NK Maribor (SVN)
Unseeded: FK Borac Banja Luka (BIH), FK Mogren (MNE), FC Tobol Kostanay (KAZ), Winners first qualifying round match 2, KS Skënderbeu (ALB)
Group 2
Seeded: NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO), FK Partizan (SRB), SK Sturm Graz (AUT), FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), FK Ekranas (LTU), FC Zestafoni (GEO)
Unseeded: FC Dacia Chisinau (MDA), FC Pyunik (ARM), Videoton FC (HUN), Winners first qualifying round match 1, Neftçi PFK (AZE), FK Skendija 79 (MKD)
Group 3
Seeded: FC BATE Borisov (BLR), Rosenborg BK (NOR), Wisła Kraków (POL), HJK Helsinki (FIN), Malmö FF (SWE), Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)
Unseeded: Skonto FC (LVA), Bangor City FC (WAL), HB Tórshavn (FRO), Linfield FC (NIR), FC Flora Tallinn (EST), Breidablik (ISL)
