The fields for the groups stages of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League are nearly set, with just one play-in round remaining in each competition.
The 10 Champions League play-in ties are highlighted by an Arsenal-Udinese matchup. The teams that win those 10 ties will be entered into the draw for the UCL group stage, while the 10 losers will drop to the Europa League group-stage draw.
As for some of the highlights from the 38 Europa League play-in pairings, a Sporting Lisbon-FC Nordsjaelland clash features American defenders Oguchi Onyewu and Michael Parkhurst, while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover must tangle with Sevilla. The winners from all of the Europa League play-in matchups will be entered into the draw for the group stage, while the losers will have their European dreams come to an abrupt end.
Here are the final play-in draws for the Champions League and Europa League:
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAY-IN DRAW
- Arsenal vs. Udinese
- Bayern Munich vs. FC Zurich
- Lyon vs. Rubin Kazan
- Wisla Krakow vs. APOEL FC
- Maccabi Haifa vs. Genk
- Dinamo Zagreb vs. Malmo FF
- FC Copenhagen vs. FC Viktoria Plzen
- FC BATE Borisov vs. SK Sturm Graz
- Odense BK vs. Villarreal
- FC Twente vs. Benfica
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE PLAY-IN DRAW (teams with Americans in bold)
- Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Panathinaikos
- Atletico Madrid vs. Vitoria SC
- Shamrock Rovers vs. FK Partizan
- FC Metalist Kharkiv vs. Sochaux
- Besiktas vs. FC Alania Vladikavkaz
- Rosenborg BK vs. AEK Larnaca FC
- FC Vorskla Poltava vs. FC Dinamo Bucuresti
- Bursaspor vs. Anderlecht
- AS Roma vs. SK Slovan Bratislava
- Olympiacos Volou vs. Paris-St. Germain
- Legia Warszawa vs. Spartak Moscow
- FK Ekranas vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv
- PAOK FC vs. Karpaty Lviv
- Trabzonspor vs. Athletic Bilbao
- Heart of Midlothian vs. Tottenham
- NK Maribor vs. Rangers
- FC Steaua Bucuresti vs. CSKA Sofia
- FC Nordsjaelland vs. Sporting Lisbon
- FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk vs. Fulham
- FC Lokomotiv Moscow vs. FC Spartak Trnava
- FC Sion vs. Celtic
- WKS Slask Wroclaw vs. FC Rapid Bucuresti
- PFC Litex Lovech vs. Dynamo Kyiv
- Lazio vs. FK Rabotnicki
- CD Nacional vs. Birmingham City
- PSV Eindhoven vs. SV Ried
- FC Thun vs. Stoke City
- Aalesunds FK vs. AZ Alkmaar
- FC Vaslui vs. Sparta Praha
- AC Omonia vs. FC Salzburg
- FC Zestafoni vs. Club Brugge
- Hannover 96 vs. Sevilla
- HJK Helsinki vs. FC Schalke 04
- FC Dinamo Tblisi vs. AEK Athens
- Stade Rennes vs. FK Crvena Zvezda
- CS Gaz Metan Medias vs. Austria Wien
- SC Braga vs. Young Boys
- Standard Liege vs. Helsingborgs IF
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Which of the bigger clubs do you think will have a hard time qualifying? How do you like the draw for teams featuring Americans?
Share your thoughts below.
Fascinating comrade, fascinating!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Dnipro_Dnipropetrovsk
His accent is too thick to qualify!
What the heck is a Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk???
Arsenal should have no problem beating Udinese, especially since they pretty much sold all their best players (not the best plan when your team makes the CL). The EPL has dominated Serie A lately too. Of course, it is Arsenal, so they could easily blow this as well, which would be awesome…
He has in the preseason friendlies and he even got an assist off of a corner in their match against Juventus.
This is what Arsenal gets for floundering down the stretch, should not even have to play in this round
Shouldn’t Tottenham be in bold? They’ve got Brad Friedel now.
Has Gooch got much playing time with SL so far?