The Road to Moscow

The long road to the UEFA Cham­pi­ons League final started today with the draw for matchups in the first two rounds of Cham­pi­ons League qual­i­fy­ing. One of the more inter­est­ing sec­ond round matchups could be FC Køben­havn (FC Copen­hagen) ver­sus Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem FC. Scot­tish club Rangers FC also enter the com­pe­ti­tion in the sec­ond round. One other note is that Irish club Derry City appears in qual­i­fy­ing despite not win­ning their league. Shel­bourne won the Foot­ball League of Ire­land but did not apply for a license to take part in the UEFA-sanctioned tournaments.

First qual­i­fy­ing round ties to be played on July 17/18 and 24/25. Sec­ond qual­i­fy­ing round ties will be played on July 31/August 1, and August 7/8. The final will be held on May 21, 2008 at the Luzh­niki Sta­dium in Moscow.

First qual­i­fy­ing round
Lenko­ran (Azer­bai­jan) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croa­tia)
APOEL (Cyprus) v BATE (Belarus)
Sher­iff (Moldova) v Ranger’s (Andorra)
Haf­nar­fjor­dur ((Ice­land) v HB (Faroe Islands)
TNS (Wales) v Ventspils (Latvia)
Pobeda (FYR Mace­do­nia) v Leva­dia (Esto­nia)
Olimpi (Geor­gia) v Astana (Kaza­khstan)
Zeta (Mon­tene­gro) v Kau­nas (Lithua­nia)
Tam­pere (Fin­land) v Murata (San Marino)
Dude­lange (lux­em­bourg) v Zilina (Slo­va­kia)
Lin­field (N Ire­land) v Elfs­borg (Swe­den)
Derry (N Ire­land) v Pyu­nik (Arme­nia)
Marsaxlokk (Malta) v Sara­jevo (Bosnia)
Domzale (Slove­nia) v Tirana (Albania)

Sec­ond qual­i­fy­ing round
Derry/Pyunik v Shakhtar Don­estsk (Ukraine)
Crvena Zvezda (Ser­bia) v Pobeda/Levadia
Rangers FC (Scot­land) v Zeta/Kaunas
Debre­cen (Hun­gary) v Linfield/Elfsborg
Zaglebia (Poland) v Steaua Bucharest (Roma­nia)
Genk (Bel­gium) v Marsaxlokk/Sarajevo
TNS/Ventspils v Salzburg (Aus­tria)
Olimpi/Astana v Rosen­borg (Nor­way)
Hafnarfjordur/HB v APOEL/BATE
Koben­havn (Den­mark) v Beitar Jerusalem (Israel)
Dudelange/Zilina v Slavia Prague (Czech Rep)
Tampere/Murata v Lev­ski (Bul­garia)
Domzale/Tirana v Lenkoran/Dinamo Zagreb
Besik­tas (Turkey) v Sheriff/Ranger’s