Brann provide Everton's first Norway trip

SK Brann coach Mons Ivar Mjelde will be hoping to create some happier memories as he again takes on a team from Liverpool for his side's game against Everton FC.

• The two sides have never met in UEFA club competition.

• Brann have played four games against English sides, drawing one and losing three. They lost 11-0 on aggregate against Queen's Park Rangers FC in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup first round – with Stan Bowles scoring a hat-trick in both legs – and then drew 1-1 at home and lost 3-0 away against Everton's neighbours Liverpool FC in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals.

• Geir Hasund, who scored the equaliser in that home game in Bergen, remains the only Brann player to have scored a goal against an English side.

• Brann coach Mjelde, then a forward, played in both legs of that tie against Liverpool.

• Mjelde also played in 0-0 and 1-1 draws against Chelsea FC in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup during his time at FK Austria Wien.

• Everton will be making their first competitive trip to Norway.

• Brann, 2007 Norwegian champions, have won only one of their three home games in the UEFA Cup this season, losing the other two.

• Everton have won all three of their UEFA Cup away games this season.

• Everton striker Andy Johnson celebrated his 27th birthday on 10 February.

• Two Brann players boast Premier League experience. Midfielder Eirik Bakke, 30, played for Leeds United AFC between 1999 and 2006, also spending time on loan with Aston Villa FC. Striker Azar Karadas, 26, spent the 2005/06 season on loan at Portsmouth FC.

• Brann qualified for the Round of 32 by finishing third in Group D. Everton finished top of Group A, and along with FC Girondins de Bordeaux were one of only two sides to win all their group stage games.

• Everton will host the second leg in Liverpool on 21 February. The aggregate winners will meet the victors of the tie between Rosenborg BK and ACF Fiorentina in the Round of 16 on 6 and 12/13 March, playing the second leg at home.

• There could thus potentially be an all-Norwegian Round of 16 tie, with Brann taking on Rosenborg.

• Winter UEFA Cup registrations
Brann: In - Njugo Demba Nyren, Gylfi Einarsson, Michael Thwaite.
Out – none.
Everton: In - Manuel Fernandes, Daniel Gosling, Stephen Connor, Darren Dennehy, Shaun Densmore, Aidan Downes, Steven Morrison.
Out – James McFadden, Alan Stubbs, Lukas Jutkiewicz, John Paul Kissock, Bjarni Thor Vidarsson.