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.

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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)

Related posts:

1. Intertoto Cup Third Round Results The final set of Intertoto Cup fixtures took place over...
2. UEFA Intertoto Cup — First Round Underway Eleven UEFA Cup second qualifying round berths are up for...
3. UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round Preview An amazing 37 ties kick off today as the first...