Champions League play-off draws take place today
With another round before clubs can access the lucrative UEFA Champions League,
European giants,
Ajax join 19 other clubs plotting their way to that money-spinning
stage. Ajax were competitors in the group stage in the 2005/2006
season, the last time they had a taste of the main draws.
Turkish entrants,
Fenerbahce were sensationally eliminated after a stunning 1-0 home
defeat by Young Boys and Celtic could not muster enough goals to
over-turn a 3-0 deficit to Portuguese first-timers, SC Braga.
Also, Russia’s
Zenit St Petersburg will be hoping for a kind draw as they qualified
narrowly against Romania’s Unirea Urziceni . Perennial participants in
the group stage, Dynamo Kiev will also be hoping to go through.
Ajax, Young Boys,
Braga, Dynamo and Zenit are all in the non-champions half of the draw
and will be joined in the next round by Tottenham Hotspur, Sampdoria,
Werder Bremen, Auxerre and Sevilla. The winners qualify for the group
stage.
UEFA has also
published the event list and accreditation details for the Monaco
football gala in August which will include the group stage draws and
UEFA Club Football Awards.
The Champions
League draws will hold on Thursday, August 26 by 6pm. The UEFA Europa
League group stage draw will hold on Friday, August 27 at 1 pm before
the Super Cup match between Inter Milan, European Cup winners and
Atletico Madrid,
winners of the inaugural Europa Cup, which will be decided at the Stade Louis II. The match will kick-off at 8:45pm.
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