London calling for Levante

English champions Arsenal FC were paired with the strongest second-ranked team, Levante Union Deportiva S.A.D. of Spain, in today's draw for the 2002/03 UEFA Women's Cup.

Defeat by eventual winners
Levante, Spain's outstanding women's team, were ranked ninth in the UEFA coefficient and must therefore square off against Arsenal, quarter-finalists last season. Levante, winners of 42 consecutive domestic games last year in a season in which they completed the Spanish 'double', are still smarting from being squeezed out by eventual winners 1. FFC Frankfurt in the group stages last season.

Unprecedented treble
Frankfurt, the imperious German side who added the Bundesliga title and the domestic cup to their European crown to secure an unprecedented treble last season, must overcome ZFK Masinac-Classic Niš, ZNK Osijek and Shamrock Rovers LFC in Group 3 to advance to the quarter-finals along with the other seven section winners.

Team to avoid
Another team to avoid in today's draw at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, were Umeå IK. The Swedish champions will be out to make amends in this competition after Frankfurt ended their unbeaten run stretching over two years and 54 matches with a 2-0 victory in the inaugural Women's Cup final in May.

Nordic challenge
Richard Holmlund's team, spearheaded by Swedish international Hanna Ljungberg, will be confident of overcoming their main challengers from the Czech Republic, AC Sparta Praha, in Group 1. Another Nordic challenger, Trondheims-Ørn SK of Norway, will be similarly confident of progress from Group 5 ,where they face Dutch side Saestum, FC PAOK Thessaloniki of Greece and Romania's FC Regal.

Beaten semi-finalists
HJK Helsinki and Toulouse FC, narrowly beaten in the semi-finals last term by Umeå and Frankfurt resectively, find themselves in Groups 4 and 2. FC Sursee of Switzerland will hope to push HJK hard for top spot, while Toulouse's greatest rivals look likely to be Italy's Lazio Calcio Femminile.

Qualifying procedure
As there were more than 32 entrants, Lefkothea from Cyprus, Lisburn Distillery Predators WFC of Northern Ireland, Slovenia's ZNK Skale Mila and Gomrukçu Baku from Azerbaijan must first negotiate a qualifying round to advance to a mini-tournament hosted by Arsenal and also featuring Levante and KSC Eendracht Aalst. 

Two-legged final
The eight group winners qualify for the quarter-finals. Games in the last eight, semi-finals and also the final, unlike last season which was a one-off affair, will be played over two legs on a home-and-away basis.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8