Dynamo Kyiv benefit from Sevilla success
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
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Sevilla FC's final win combined with their fifth-placed finish in Spain was good news for FC Dynamo Kyiv as it gave them automatic access to the 2014/15 group stage.
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When Sevilla FC defeated SL Benfica to win the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League, the result was good news for FC Dynamo Kyiv as it gave them access to the 2014/15 group stage.
In the access list for the 2014/15 edition, seven clubs gain automatic access to the group stage, along with the ten teams transferring from the UEFA Europa League play-offs. Those seven are the cup winners from the six highest-ranked nations in the UEFA country coefficients plus the UEFA Europa League title holders if not already qualified. Sevilla FC already have that spot from Spain as they were fifth in the Liga, and the Copa del Rey victors were UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid CF.
That opened up a gap for the cup winners in the seventh-ranked nation, Ukraine, to transfer from the play-off round to the group stage, which is Dynamo, absent from the UEFA Champions League after finishing fourth in the top division. Also benefiting will be Austrian runners-up SK Rapid Wien, moved forward a round to the play-offs as FC Salzburg won the cup as well as the league, Israeli Cup winners Hapoel Kiryat Shmona FC, now in the third rather than second qualifying round, a stage which is now where RoPS Rovaniemi of Finland and FK Sarajevo of Bosnia and Herzegovina will start.
In all 78 teams will enter the first qualifying round, including Gibraltar's debut entry, with those 39 winners joining 41 others in the second qualifying round. The 40 sides that emerge join 18 teams entering in the third qualifying round, and the 29 winners will mix with 33 new entrants in the play-off round, including 15 teams transferring from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
In all 31 teams will win through to the group stage with seven more places filled by automatic entrants including Sevilla and Dynamo, plus the ten clubs defeated in the UEFA Champions League play-offs. The top two in each of the 12 groups go into the round of 32 with the eight third-placed UEFA Champions League sides before competing for places in the 27 May final at Warsaw's National Stadium.