Seville ready to welcome trophy

Feyenoord return the trophy
The trophy is being flown into the Spanish city by Jorien van den Herik, president of last year's winners Feyenoord, the Dutch club's head coach Bert van Marwijk, and Feyenoord's vice-captain Kees van Wonderen.

For safekeeping
UEFA vice-president Senes Erzik will receive the UEFA Cup on behalf of UEFA and hand it on to the Lord Mayor of Seville, Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín, in a ceremony at the Caseta Municipal in Seville. The UEFA Cup trophy will then remain in the city's safekeeping until the final between Celtic FC (Scotland) and FC Porto (Portugal) at the Estadio Olímpico on 21 May.

Illustrious guests
Among the long list of illustrious guests attending the event will be the president of the Spanish Football Federation, Angel María Villar, along with legendary figures from the city's two major clubs Real Betis Balompié and Sevilla FC, represented by former players and coaches Luis Del Sol and Juan Arza.

Penalty hero
Guest of honour will be Romanian international goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam, who was FC Steaua Bucuresti's hero when he saved all four penalties taken by FC Barcelona players during the shoot-out that decided the 1985/86 European Champion Clubs' Cup final played down the road at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Steaua won 2-0 on penalties after a goalless draw over 120 minutes

Symbolic curtain-raiser
In recent times, UEFA has introduced the annual trophy handover ceremony in which the holders of the major club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, return the trophy to UEFA, who immediately hand it on to the host city as a symbolic curtain-raiser to the final. Champions League holders Real Madrid CF recently returned the trophy to UEFA in a ceremony in Manchester - whose Old Trafford stadium stages the final on 28 May.