Bayern München are the most successful club left in the competition (©Getty Images)The draw for the UEFA Cup group stage will take place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Forty teams await their fate as proceedings get under way at 12.00CET.
The participants will be drawn into eight groups of five, live on uefa.com, with each side playing two games at home and two away. The teams will be allocated to five pots, in accordance with their respective club coefficients. Pot 1 will comprise the top eight sides, with Villarreal CF boasting the highest coefficient; Pot 2 will consist of the following eight teams in the rankings, and so on for pots 3, 4 and 5. Clubs from the same national association cannot be pitted together.
'Toughest group'
Group F will be a tough assignment for 1995/96 winners Bayern, who are making their first UEFA Cup appearance in a decade following a run of ten consecutive UEFA Champions League campaigns. When the Bundesliga side last won the trophy the competition was run in the traditional knockout format. A group stage was introduced in 2004/05 and as the only sides to have featured in all three campaigns since, AZ Alkmaar and FC Basel 1893 will hope to profit from that experience.
Experience
Dutch side AZ line up against FC Zenit St. Petersburg, Everton FC, 1. FC Nürnberg and Larissa FC in Group A, while Basel have been handed a tricky-looking Group D with Hamburger SV, Stade Rennais FC, NK Dinamo Zagreb and Norwegian league leaders SK Brann. Helsingborgs IF's reward for their remarkable 8-6 aggregate defeat of SC Heerenveen in the first round, is games against FC Girondins de Bordeaux, FK Austria Wien, Galatasaray SK and Panionios GSS in Group H. In Group G two-time winners Tottenham Hotspur FC meet RSC Anderlecht in a repeat of the 1984 final which Spurs won on penalties.
2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage draw
Group A |
| 1. AZ Alkmaar (NED) |
| 2. FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS) |
| 3. Everton FC (ENG) |
| 4. 1. FC Nürnberg (GER) |
| 5. Larissa FC (GRE) |
| Group B |
| 1. Panathinaikos FC (GRE) |
| 2. FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS) |
| 3. Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) |
| 4. FC København (DEN) |
| 5. Aberdeen FC (SCO) |
| Group C |
| 1. Villarreal CF (ESP) |
| 2. AEK Athens FC (GRE) |
| 3. ACF Fiorentina (ITA) |
| 4. FK Mladá Boleslav (CZE) |
| 5. IF Elfsborg (SWE) |
| Group D |
| 1. FC Basel 1893 (SUI) |
| 2. Hamburger SV (GER) |
| 3. Stade Rennais FC (FRA) |
| 4. NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) |
| 5. SK Brann (NOR) |
| Group E |
| 1. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER) |
| 2. AC Sparta Praha (CZE) |
| 3. FC Spartak Moskva (RUS) |
| 4. Toulouse FC (FRA) |
| 5. FC Zürich (SUI) |
| Group F |
| 1. FC Bayern München (GER) |
| 2. Bolton Wanderers FC (ENG) |
| 3. SC Braga (POR) |
| 4. FK Crvena Zvezda (SRB) |
| 5. Aris Thessaloniki FC (GRE) |
| Group G |
| 1. RSC Anderlecht (BEL) |
| 2. Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG) |
| 3. Getafe CF (ESP) |
| 4. Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR) |
| 5. Aalborg BK (DEN) |
| Group H |
| 1. FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA) |
| 2. FK Austria Wien (AUT) |
| 3. Galatasaray SK (TUR) |
| 4. Panionios GSS (GRE) |
| 5. Helsingborgs IF (SWE) |
