Bold flag-bearers Beşiktaş play CSKA Sofia

With Galatasaray AŞ and Fenerbahçe SK eliminated in the play-offs, Beşiktaş JK will carry the torch for Istanbul in the UEFA Europa League, kicking off their Group L campaign with a home game against PFC CSKA Sofia.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met in the first round of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup, with Beşiktaş coming out on top, winning 2-0 at home and then drawing 2-2 in Sofia.

• The teams for the game in Istanbul on 14 September 2006 were:-
Beşiktaş: Runje, Mehmet Sedef (İbrahim Akın, 69), Burak, Matías Delgado (Ricardinho, 55), Mert Nobre*, Bobô* (Gökhan Güleç, 74), Kléberson, İbrahim Üzülmez*, Koray Avcı, İbrahim Toraman*.
CSKA Sofia: Ivaylo Petrov, Martos, Kotev, Jakirović, Dimitrov (Ivanov, 69), Iliev, Robert Petrov, Petre (Yurukov, 87), Trica, Tiago Silva (Dah Zadi, 61), Todorov.

* registered to play for the club in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

Match background
• Beşiktaş have also played CSKA's city rivals PFC Levski Sofia, winning 1-0 in Istanbul and drawing 1-1 in Sofia in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. They have thus won both of their previous home games against Bulgarian opponents.

• CSKA have played three additional games against Turkish sides, losing 3-0 home and away to Galatasaray AŞ in a 2003/04 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie, but winning 3-1 at Kocaelispor in the 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Their record in five games against Turkish clubs is thus W1 D1 L3 (W0 D0 L2 away).

Team facts
• Beşiktaş coach since June, Bernd Schuster started his career at 1. FC Köln but spent his finest years as a midfielder with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF and Club Atlético de Madrid, retiring in 1997 with winners medals from three Liga titles, six Spanish Cups, the 1981/82 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 1980 UEFA European Championship.

• He returned to Real Madrid as coach in 2007, leading them to the title but resigning later the same year.

• Schuster's first game in UEFA competition was a 4-0, 1 November 1978 European Champion Clubs' Cup win against CSKA's capital rivals PFC Lokomotiv Sofia. He was playing for Köln at the time.

• Gjore Jovanovski was hired as CSKA coach in August, replacing Pavel Dochev. A midfielder, he spent most of his career in his native Skopje with FK Vardar, moving into coaching as boss of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia national team. He later coached Samsunspor and a clutch of FYROM clubs before heading for Sofia.