UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE ERA BEGINS
John Atkin from London

UEFA.com
Thursday 2 July 2009

Just 43 days after FC Shakhtar Donetsk claimed the 38th and final
edition of the UEFA Cup, this evening heralds the dawn of a new era
as the inaugural UEFA Europa League gets under way.

Anorthosis challenge The team that hoists the trophy aloft at the Arena
Hamburg on 12 May will be the last side standing of 196, in all, who
will contest this season’s competition. The road begins this evening
for 46 of them, with Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta FC among the
most high-profile teams in action as they take on Luxembourg’s UN
Kaerjeng 97.

Pedigree Anorthosis are looking to build on last season’s impressive
UEFA Champions League group-stage campaign but they are far
from the only side with pedigree in European football’s elite
competition. Rosenborg BK will call on the experience of eleven
seasons in the competition as they travel across the Norwegian Sea
to the Faroe Islands for their meeting with NSÍ Runavík while Swedish
side Helsingborgs IF are preparing to take on FC MIKA of Armenia.

Crvena Zvezda await That game will see Helsingborg’s stadium, the
Olympia, return to normal service following UEFA European Under-21
Championship, but for most clubs the attraction will be delving into
the unknown. With the likes of FK Crvena Zvezda awaiting in the second
qualifying round there is plenty of incentive for some of European
club football’s minnows. The winners of the tie between JK Trans
Narva and NK Rudar Velenje will face the 1991 European champions,
with the draw already having been made (to view it in full click here).

Competition format Should any of the teams in action tonight go all
the way they must negotiate 23 games, including the final. There are
three qualifying rounds and the August play-offs to get through to
even book a place in the group stage which, having been expanded to
include 12 groups of four teams, sees each team play the other three
sides on a home-and-away basis. The top two progress to the Round of
32 where, with the addition of the eight teams who finish in third
position in their UEFA Champions League group, the competition reverts
to home-and-away knockout rounds.