Trio of Welsh Clubs in Nyon for UEFA Draw

Representatives from Llanelli, The New Saints and Bangor City are all in Nyon, Switzerland for tomorrow's draw of the first two qualifying rounds of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup.

Llanelli will be in the Champions League Draw for the First time, which is held in the stunning Offices on the banks of Lake Geneva, and that will take place at 11.00am on Tuesday. There will be 28 sides competing in the first qualifying round and then 13 others will join the competition in the second qualifying round. The clubs in the first qualifying round have been divided into seeded and unseeded bowls in line with their club rankings for the draw.

The road to the 2008/09 UEFA Cup final at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul begins in earnest on Tuesday with 74 teams awaiting the outcome of the draw for the first qualifying round of the competition. The draw will take place at 12.30pm and the Citizens and the Saints will be in the Northern Section of the draw, which also features Manchester City.

2008/09 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round draw participants: -

Seeded Teams
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
FC Artmedia Petrzalka (SVK)
NK Domzale (SVN)
IFK Goteborg (SWE)
Anorthosis Famugusta (CYP)
Tampere United (FIN)
FC Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)
FK Ventspils (LVA)
FK Rabotnicki (MKD)
FK Modrica (BIH)
FBK Kaunus (LTU)
Valetta FC (MLT)
FC Sheriff (MDA)
Drogheda United FC (IRL)
Valur Reykjavik (ISL)

Unseeded
FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
FC Levadia Tallinn (EST)
FK Inter Baku (AZE)
KS Dinamo Tirana (ALB)
FC Pyunik (ARM)
FK Aktobe (KAZ)
Linfield FC (NIR)
Llanelli AFC (WAL)
NSI Runavik (FRO)
F91 Dudelange (LUX)
FK Buducnost Podgorica (MNE)
FC Santa Coloma (SMR)
S.S. Murata (SMR)

Glasgow Rangers, Turkish outfit Fenerbahçe SK, Greek Champions Panathinaikos and FC Basel 1893 of Switzerland, who play at the 40,000 capacity St. Jacobs Stadium, which hosted the Euro 2008 Semi Final between Germany and Turkey are the sides that the Reds will want to meet in the Second Qualifying Round, should they progress.

The First Qualifying Round games are all scheduled for 15th/16th and 22nd/23rd July, with the next Round taking place on 29th/30th July and 5th/6th August. This season's final will be played at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on 27th May 2009.

The UEFA Cup draw could see Bangor City or The New Saints face Manchester City, who qualified for the competition through the Fair Play Award. The match in the UEFA Cup 1st Qualifying Round will be the first competitive fixture for former Wales boss, Mark Hughes at his new club. City will not be playing their home leg at the City of Manchester Stadium though, as it's being repaired and instead, they will play their home game at Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium.

Bangor City have booked the Racecourse for their game, whilst TNS are scheduled to play at Latham Park, Newtown, although this would change if they are drawn against the English side. The Full draw is as above,