UEFA held the draw for the UEFA Cup group stage today and some fascinating pairings emerged. Both Martin Jol and Steve McClaren will take their new clubs back to England as FC Twente will face Manchester City and Jol’s Hamburg will take on Aston Villa.

This year’s groups are looking really tough and the field contains eight former UEFA Cup winners, and six former European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions League winners.

The top three teams in each group qualify for the knockout stages, to be joined by the eight third-placed teams in the Champions League groups. Here are the groupings with my picks to advance. A couple of potential upsets are on the cards. I think Ajax might not make the Round of 32 with their form being so inconsistent. They’ve been drawn in with some very good teams and it’s going to be tight to see who goes on.

Potential for upset exists in Groups B and E as well where Olympiakos and Portsmouth might struggle. Portsmouth have had a poor start to the season and are looking shaky at the back. Olympiacos are simply in a tough group and may struggle to beat out Hertha Berlin, Benfica and Galatasaray (a team featuring ex-Liverpool attackers Harry Kewell and Milan Baros).

I’ve picked Rosenborg to advance as they are nearing the end of their season and should be in good form/shape and as they are not likely to win their domestic league, they will look to these games to give their season some positivity.

Group A:
Schalke 04 (Germany)
Paris St Germain (France)
Manchester City (England)
Racing Santander (Spain)
FC Twente (Netherlands)

Group B:
Benfica (Portugal)
Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)

Group C:
Sevilla (Spain)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
Sampdoria (Italy)
Standard Liège (Belgium)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)

Group D:
Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Udinese (Italy)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
NEC Nijmegen (Netherlands)

Group E:
AC Milan (Italy)
SC Braga (Portugal)
Wolfsburg (Germany)
Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Portsmouth (England)

Group F:
Hamburg (Germany)
Aston Villa (England)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Ajax (Netherlands)
MSK Zilina (Slovakia)

Group G:
Valencia (Spain)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Rosenborg (Norway)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
St Etienne (France)

Group H:
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Deportivo La Coruna (Spain)
Feyenoord (Netherlands)
AS Nancy (France)
Lech Poznan (Poland)

Manchester City are in danger of an early exit from Europe after a shock 1-0 home defeat by Danish side Midtjylland in their UEFA Cup second qualifying round first-leg match on Thursday. The loss adds to the ongoing turmoil at the club. Mark Hughes had been obliged to state publicly he would be staying at the club amid talk of financial constraints and internal conflict and could have used a victory in this match to lighten the mood around the club.

It was the worst possible start for City manager Mark Hughes as midfielder Danny Olsen struck in the 15th minute to give Midtjylland a good chance of progressing to the first round after the return leg in two weeks’ time. The Guardian reports that the City supporters booed the team off the field, while The Times quotes Thomas Thomasberg, the 33-year-old coach of Midtjylland, who accused City of complacency and of underestimating his side. “Maybe they didn’t know our players,” he said. “Maybe they made stupid decisions because they lost the ball and thought it would be so easy to get it back.”

There was no complacency for one of City’s domestic rivals, Aston Villa, as they cruised past FH Hafnarfjordur by a 4-1 scoreline. Almost as significant as the scoreline was the fact that Gareth Barry started for Villa, making himself ineligible to represent another club in the Champions League until the knockout phase in February. Could that signal the end of the much discussed courtship by Liverpool? The Daily Mirror has the rumour that Liverpool are going to come back with yet another bid for Barry.

Another club that was on the wrong end of an upset was Ligue 1 side Rennes, as they fell to Norwegian league leaders Stabaek by a 2-1 score. 36 year-old central defender Kjolo headed home a corner kick in each half for the home side while Moussa Sow (pictured above) scored a critical away goal to give Rennes hope for the return leg at home.As always, a collection of highlights that have made their way to the web has been compiled by the people at 101greatgoals.com.

The complete list of first-leg scores is posted below:
Metalurgs 0 – 2 SC Vaslui
FK Borac 1 – 0 Lokomotiv Sofia
Vojvodina 0 – 0 Hapoel Tel Aviv
FC Honka 0 – 0 Viking Stavanger
Legia Warsaw 1 – 2 FC Moscow
FC Haka 0 – 4 Brondby
Stuttgart 2 – 1 Gyor
APOEL Nicosia 2 – 2 Crvena Zvezda
Litex Lovech 0 – 0 Hapoel Ironi KS
Djurgarden 2 – 1 Rosenborg
Elfsborg 2 – 2 St Patrick’s Athletic
Stabaek 2 – 1 Rennes
FK Suduva 1 – 4 Red Bull Salzburg
Young Boys Berne 4 – 1 Debreceni VSC
Hafnarfjordur 1 – 4 Aston Villa
Gent 2 – 1 Kalmar
Aris Salonika 1 – 0 NK Slaven Koprivnica
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3 – 2 AC Bellinzona
Slovan Liberec 1 – 2 MSK Zilina
FC Copenhagen 3 – 1 Lillestrom
Maccabi Netanya 1 – 1 Cherno More
FC Zurich 1 – 1 Sturm Graz
AEK Athens 0 – 1 Omonia Nicosia
KS Vllaznia 0 – 3 Napoli
Siroki Brijeg 1 – 2 Besiktas
Manchester City 0 – 1 Midtjylland
Queen of the South 1 – 2 Nordsjaelland
NK Ljubljana 0 – 2 Hertha Berlin
Braga 1 – 0 Zrinjski Mostar
Lech Poznan 6 – 0 Grasshoppers
Deportivo La Coruna 0 – 0 Hajduk Split

The UEFA Cup (perhaps soon to be known as the Europa League as we covered a while back) is in some ways more interesting to me as the diversity of nations represented is much higher. If Michel Platini is successful with his reforms, we may see more diversity soon in the Champions League but for now, the UEFA Cup is the place to really learn about the teams in some of Europe’s “smaller” footballing nations like Norway, Denmark, Croatia, Bulgaria, etc.

The draw for the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round took place last Friday and it has presented us with a number of all Scandinavian fixtures. One of the highlights will be Djurgarden v Rosenborg. Djurgarden, who are going through a bit of a rebuilding phase after being dominant in the early 2000′s, are led by veteran striker Mattias Jonson (formerly with Brondby and Norwich) who has represented Sweden at two World Cups. Djurgarden are currently sitting 10th in the Allsvenskan (Swedish league) table.

Rosenborg are also rebuilding under new manager Erik Hamrén. The club had been trying to sign Kenny Cooper from MLS team Dallas FC but Cooper will remain with the club for the rest of this season. They have also sold Swedish defender Fredrik Stoor to Fulham of the English Premier League. Another player that might be on the move from the club is midfielder Per Ciljan Skjelbred who has drawn interested from Tottenham, Ajax, Blackburn and Newcastle, but it was West Bromwich Albion that has made the first bid for his services. Rosenborg have turned down that offer but with contract talks with Skjelbred stalemated, Rosenborg may start listening to offers again shortly. Rosenborg are struggling again this season and sit 9th in the Norwegian league table with 10 rounds of games left to play.

It’ll be fascinating to see which of these two strugglers will progress in the tournament and if a win in this competition can boost their sagging domestic form.

2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round draw
First leg: 14 August
Second leg: 28 August

NORTHERN SECTION

Djurgarden (Sweden) v Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway)
Manchester City (England) v Midtjylland (Denmark)
FC Honka (Finland) v Viking Stavanger (Norway)
Queen of the South (Scotland) v Nordsjaelland (Denmark)
Ghent (Belgium) v Kalmar (Sweden)
Aston Villa (England) v FH (Iceland)
Stabaek (Norway) v Stade Rennes (France)
Haka Valkeakoski (Finland) v Brondby (Denmark)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Lillestrom (Norway)
Elfsborg Boras (Sweden) v St. Patrick’s Athletic (Ireland)

SOUTHERN SECTION
Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia) v Besiktas (Turkey)
Braga (Portugal) v Zrinjski (Bosnia)
Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria) v Borac Cacak (Serbia)
Aris Salonika (Greece) v Slaven Belupo Koprivnica (Croatia)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) v AEK Athens (Greece)
Vllaznia Shkoder (Albania) v Napoli (Italy)
APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) v Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
Deportivo Coruna (Spain) v Hajduk Split (Croatia)
Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) v Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Israel)
Vojvodina Novi Sad (Serbia) v Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
Maccabi Netanya (Israel) v Cherno More Varna (Bulgaria)

CENTRAL-EAST SECTION
VfB Stuttgart (Germany) v Gyor ETO (Hungary)
FC Zurich (Switzerland) v Sturm Graz (Austria)
Lech Poznan (Poland) v Grasshoppers (Switzerland)
Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) v Zilina (Slovakia)
Metalurgs Liepaja (Latvia) v Vaslui (Romania)
Young Boys (Switzerland) v Debrecen (Hungary)
WIT Georgia Tbilisi (Georgia) v Austria Vienna (Austria)
Suduva Marijampole (Lithuania) v Salzburg (Austria)
Interblock Ljubljana (Slovenia) v Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Legia Warsaw (Poland) v FC Moscow (Russia)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v AC Bellinzona (Switzerland)

The final set of Intertoto Cup fixtures took place over the weekend and the eleven winning clubs now advance to the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. Advancing are Aston Villa, Napoli, Stade Rennais FC, RC Deportivo La Coruna, SC Braga, SC Vaslui, SK Sturm Graz, Grasshopper-Club, VfB Stuttgart, IF Elfsborg and Rosenborg BK.

A bit of history was made in this final installment of the Intertoto Cup as Rosenborg became the first Norwegian side to successfully qualify and Stuttgart became the only side to qualify for the UEFA Cup from the Intertoto Cup three times. All eleven Intertoto Cup winners will join the 16 automatic entrants and the 37 UEFA Cup first qualifying round winners in the draw for the second round, which will be held this Friday in Nyon.

The UEFA Intertoto Cup winners that progress furthest in the UEFA Cup will be presented with a trophy, following in the footsteps of Newcastle United FC in 2006 and Hamburg last season, who both reached the Round of 16.

Aston Villa’s 1-0 home win against Odense BK secured a 3-2 aggregate victory but also came at a heavy cost. Defender Wilfred Bouma had to be carried off after dislocating his ankle in the eleventh minute and is likely out for several months. In a bit of a soap-opera twist, wantaway midfielder Gareth Barry came on to replace Bouma.He received a warm reception from the home fans, which was a dramatic turnaround from his being booed by Villa supporters in a friendly the previous Wednesday.

Some of the more well-known clubs jump into the fray in this final round of competition including 2007 Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart, Aston Villa (former European Cup and 2001 Intertoto Cup Winners) and Norwegian club Rosenborg. Winners of this round enter UEFA Cup second qualifying round. The ultimate winner of the Intertoto Cup is the club from the surviving 11 who advances the furthest in the UEFA Cup.

My predictions of who will advance are highlighted. I’m picking what might be considered an upset by choosing Russian club Saturn over Stuttgart but the Russian league is in mid-season and Saturn crushed their opponents in the last round 8-1 on aggregate so they are in fine form going into this fixture. The same logic was applied to select Rosenborg advancing over NAC Breda.

Here are the complete fixtures, the first leg takes place over July 19th and 20th with the second leg being held on July 26th and 27th.

Bnei Sakhnin FC (Israel) v RC Deportivo La Coruña (Spain)
Panionios GSS (Greece) v SSC Napoli (Italy)
Sivasspor (Turkey) v SC Braga (Portugal)
Grasshopper-Club (Switzerland) v PFC Chernomorets Burgas (Bulgaria)
FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast (Russia) v VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
PFC Neftçi (Azerbijan) v SC Vaslui (Romania)
Stade Rennais FC (France) v SC Tavriya Simferopol (Ukraine)
SK Sturm Graz (Austria) v Budapest Honvéd FC (Hungary)
NAC Breda (Netherlands) v Rosenborg BK (Norway)
Odense BK (Denmark) v Aston Villa FC (England)
IF Elfsborg (Sweden) v FK R?ga (Latvia)