Following the season's conclusion - here are the details for all our clubs in Europe next season:


CELTIC
will enter in the Champions League Group Stage. They will likely be in Pot 3 (of 4) for the draw.
Dates will be:
Tue/Wed 16/17 September (probably away, to Pot 2)
Tue/Wed 30/1 September/October (probably home, to Pot 4)
Tue/Wed 21/22 October (probably home, to Pot 1)
Tue/Wed 4/5 November (probably away, to Pot 1)
Tue/Wed 25/26 November (probably home, to Pot 2)
Tue/Wed 9/10 December (probably away, to Pot 4)


RANGERS
will enter in the Champions League Qualifying Round 2 (of 3). They will definetely be seeded.
Dates will be:
Tue/Wed 29/30 July
Tue/Wed 5/6 August
Possible opponents (some predicted or estimated) include:
Goteborg, Anorthis Famagusta, Tampere Utd, Dinamo Tbilisi, Ventspils, Rabotnicki Skopje, Kaunas, Sheriff Tiraspol, Drogheda Utd, Valur Rekyjavik


MOTHERWELL
will enter in the UEFA Cup First Round. They will definetely be unseeded.
Dates will be:
Thu 18 September
Thu 2 October
The draw system if exceptionally complicated, involving dividing the 80 teams into 8 pots of 5 seeds and 5 non-seeds - this makes it impossible to accurately predict who Motherwell can draw.


QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
will enter in the UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 (of 2). They will definetely be seeded.
Dates will be:
Thu 14 August
Thu 28 August
Possible opponents in the Northern zone (some predicted or estimated) include:
Stabaek, Djurgardens, Kalmar, Haka Valkeakoski, Honka Espoo, Hafnarfjardar, Metalurgs Liepaja, JFK Olimps Riga


HIBERNIAN
entered the Intertoto Cup Round 2 (of 3). They were seeded, and drew Elfsborg or Torshavn.
Dates will be (in the Northern zone):
Sat/Sun 5/6 July (home, v Elfsborg or Torshavan)
Sat/Sun 12/13 July (away, v Elfsborg or Torshavn)




Rangers need to win 2 ties to reach the Champions League group-stage. If they lose the 1st tie, they are eliminated. If they lose the 2nd tie, they drop into the UEFA Cup First Round, and would need to win 1 tie to reach the UEFA Cup group-stage.

Motherwell need to win 1 tie to reach the UEFA Cup group-stage.

Queen of the South need to win 2 ties to reach the UEFA Cup group-stage.

If Hibernian win 2 ties in the Intertoto Cup, they rise into the UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2, and would need to win 2 ties to reach the UEFA Cup group-stage.

Scotland with 0.75 co-eff points already

The winner of best comedy club name for 2008-09 has just been discovered.

With all due respect, I would think that Stabaek would comfortably beat them over two legs. I can't imagine how Thomson could deal with Alanzinho, he would fatally expose the general lack of pace in their team.

Edit - I hope Rangers get Famagusta again, this time the Cypriots will beat them.

It's shocking the seeding our clubs get. Last year Celtic were 3rd, and Rangers were 4th seeds for the CL - while all 4 english clubs get in automatically and are 1st seeds

Yet Rangers got to the UEFA cup final, and STILL have to qualify for the CL! Not even in the 3rd round, what a joke.

Celtic should at least be in the 2nd pot after getting into the last 16 and yet are still 3rd seeds? while nae doubt liverpool are 1st/2nd seeds after finishing 4th in their league

The scottish champions are 3rd seeds, and the team that finishes 4th in the english league are above them! There really is something wrong with the game these days, no wonder it's the same old teams that dominate the CL when they get piss easy draws.

rant over

The seeding and the number of slots you get / how far into the competition they start is nothing to do with the domestic leagues. Its reliant on the performance of clubs in the UEFA competitions.

3 of the 4 English clubs made the CL semi-finals, and the other was eliminated by an English club in the QF!! Of course these teams will have accrued loads of wins over strong opponents, and thus built up a strong team co-efficient rating. The same applies to countries as a whole - Scotland has done quite well to stay in the top 10 European nations, with CL QR3 and QR2 places (the first of which becomes a group-stage place when a club that'ss already qualified for the CL wins the cup).

Also, the English clubs don't get in automatically - 2 do, and 2 begin in QR3. And we have 1 and 1. I think we should be really happy at getting 4 or 5 slots at all, never mind them being good slots.

It was much better when it was 1 from each league, 4 is just a joke imo how can it be the CHAMPIONS league when countries like italy, spain, england etc put 4 teams forward?

I reckon both our teams should have got in automatically anyway tbh, qualifying round 3 i can accept, but round 2 that's just a piss-take.

*Cringes* bad memoies!

But as I say it's an accurate representation of the our clubs strength, out of all 53 UEFA nations.

Mmm, I will have been in Oz for a grand total of 7 days. Some how I can't see the Missus letting me come back for the 1st leg.

I take it the order of the legs is not pre-ordained and is subject to the luck of the draw?

I'm just concerned as I could make an awy tie on the 14th, but not on the 28th. Could someone confirm this for me please?

Only a guess but I'd have thought that the seeded team would play the second leg at home?

That would be good from a selfish point of view.
I'm not sure though, because Gretna qualified on the same basis as us and played the second leg away. I'd really love the chance to folow Queens abroad, but I'm fearful that it's not going to happen.

No, the seeded sides do not necessarily play the 2nd leg at home. In fact, I think it may be the case that it changes with each tie drawn e.g. Tie 1 - seeds at home 1st, Tie 2 - seeds at home 2nd.

On top of that, I think 2 sides from Stockholm are in the draw - if they were both drawn at home in the same leg, one of the ties (the 2nd tie drawn, unless there are other circumstances) would be flipped over. You'll really just have to wait for the draw, and see what the computer throws up.

Also, you'll likely be at Rugby Park because I don't think you can change venues once the cup has started. And Queen's will have to plan around beating say Hafnarfjardar, then drawing AC Milan...

EDIT TO ADD: Updated (+ nearly complete) competitor list: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seeduc2008.html

Thanks for this HibeeJibee, its like the season has never ended!

How come Palmerston isn't up to Uefa Cup standards, does anyone know? There must be some stadiums up in Iceland and the former Soviet Union that aren't as palatial as Palmie?

Palmerston would be fine with remedial works, but wouldn't Queens want 18,000 fans - not 3,000?

At least we will get to experience it, something Ross County will never.




It is up to standard just that we cant use our terracing.

Anyone know what date is the away date for Queens? Sorry if it's already been posted.

Am I correct in thinking the draw for the 2nd qualifying round is 1st August? If we have an away tie on 14th August, it doesn't give us much time to put travel arrangements in place. It matters not because I'll be there come what may!

Rangers draw will be on June 27. Queen of the South (and maybe Hibs) on August 1. Celtic on August 28. Motherwell on August 29.



To whet Queen's appetite, here's the clubs/grounds which it looks like you will be drawn versus:


Stabæk IF ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab%C3%A6k_IF ) - Bærum, Norway
Nadderud Stadion 7,500 (5,631 seats)


FC Midtjylland ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Midtjylland ) - Herning, Denmark
SAS Arena 11,000 (7,000 seats) - http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...rning_sas.shtml


FC Nordsjælland ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Nordsj%C3%A6lland ) - Farum, Denmark
Farum Park 9,551 all seats - http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...arum_park.shtml


Djurgårdens IF ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djurg%C3%A5rdens_IF ) - Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm Stadion (former Olympic Games venue) 14,500 (10,000 seats) - http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...m_stadion.shtml


Kalmar FF ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_FF ) - Kalmar, Sweden
Fredrickstadion 8,500 (3,718 seats) although may move to larger venue - http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...riksskans.shtml


FC Haka ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka_Valkeakoski ) - Valkeakoski, Finland
Tehtaan kenttä 6,400 (3,544 seats) although may move to larger venue


FC Honka ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Honka ) - Espoo, Finland
Tapiolan Urheilupuisto 4,000 all seats although may move to larger venue


Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimleikaf%C3%...narfjar%C3%B0ar ) - Hafnarfjarðar, Iceland
Kaplakrikavöllur Stadium 4,000 (800 seats) although will move to large venue - http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...rfjordhur.shtml


FK Liepājas Metalurgs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FK_Liep%C4%81jas_Metalurgs ) - Liepāja, Latvia


JFK Olimps Rīga ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_Olimps_Riga ) - Riga, Latvia
Daugava Stadions 5,008 (4,558 seats) although may move to larger venue http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictu...a_daugava.shtml


FK Sūduva Marijampolė ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suduva_Marijampole ) - Marijampolė, Lithuania

We have had to take gambles in the past and booked up before our opponents were known due to us playing a week after our opponents met in their 2nd leg.

The 1st time was ok- Kaunas away in 2003/04. They comfortably beat a Faoere team.

The 2nd time was an absolute nightmare. Artmedia were drawn against a Kazakh team and we gambled on them winning the tie. The Kazakh team won the 1st leg 2-0 with Artmedia winning the 2nd leg 4-1 (AET). Their winner came deep into injury time. What a night that was.

On the same vein, quite a few Hibs fans seem to have booked up in Elfsborg over the weekend of our 2nd round away leg - on the presumption that they will field a strong XI and beat Torshavn.

I spoke to Sean after they came back from their week away in Spain and he said that Queens were going to play the "Home Games" at Airdrie?

Bookmarked.

Haha, you'll be waiting a long time to get that back up!

[quote name='HibeeJibee' date='May 24 2008, 17:05' post='2487216']
QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
will enter in the UEFA Cup Qualifying Round 2 (of 2). They will definetely be seeded.
Dates will be:
Thu 14 August
Thu 28 August
[/color][color="#000000"]Possible opponents in the Northern zone (some predicted or estimated) include:
Stabaek, Djurgardens, Kalmar, Haka Valkeakoski, Honka Espoo, Hafnarfjardar, Metalurgs Liepaja, JFK Olimps Riga



Feck I`m meant to be in Rome on August 28th. Not something I`d normally complain about but on this occasion

I was just coming on to ask if Queens knew their potential opponents and I see they do. It seems a much bigger list of possibilities than when we were in it though. We were seeded and knew we'd play either Vaasa (who we drew), Portadown (NI), Levadia Maardu (Estonia) or Shamkir (Azerbaijan). What a trip that last one would have been ten years ago!

Is it not the case that the larger Northern Qualifying group is broken down into a couple of sections before the draw? Gretna's list of possible opponents immediately before the draw two years ago was about five or six teams I think.

Yeh they have this mysterious cloak-and-dagger pooling system, similar to what they use in First Round, which no-one has ever really cracked. It's supposed to 'maximise the commercial, media and sporting potential' of the draw, as well as keeping teams from the same country apart.

I think the official line was that teams from neighbouring countries would play each other thus maximising revenue potential for the 'early rounds' of European competition - Uefa's way of saying 'Look guys, as far as the business end of the tournaments is concerned, feel free to go fcuk yourselves. However, we're going to help, ahem, maximise your potential earnings. We're fcuking ace to small countries. **pats small country on the head** There, good country, wanna biscuit?'.

It does make sense, kind of, but the clubs Uefa would pair in this manner (i.e. those with a traditional sporting rivalry) are usually in the same seeding brackets in these draws. Therefore you tend not to get Sweden v Norway or Latvia v Hearts Lithuania ties until the second (qualifying) round, if at all. Instead, you get FC Subronskiduvovabrovnickaschminkypinkybangbang v Gothenburg.

I guess UEFA will be worried that one day a club is going to turn round and say they don't want to lose money by travelling to a country thousands of miles away. If we'd drawn the team from Azerbaijan, we'd have been sure to lose money. If a team withdraws, it takes a lot of credibility away from the tournament. Mind you, UEFA would probably just replace them with the 17th placed team from the Premier League or Serie A!

I hope the Queens fans get a nice trip to Scandanavia or one of the major Baltic cities. I expect Northern Ireland, the Republic or especially Wales would be a bit of a let down. If they get past that hurdle, it'd be great to see a big club at Palmerston, rather than some unheard of mob from the Czech Republic, who would still be a class above.

Call me Mr Thick, but if we enter into the 2nd qualifying round does that mean we go into the group stages if we win the tie?

And is it confirmed that we'll enter at that stage?

Afraid not. If you get through the 2nd qualifying round (which you're seeded in, so hopefully will) you go into the 1st round proper and you'll be hoping to play AC Milan or such like for a big pay day. Once you beat them, THEN you go into the group stage.

Ah, ok.

So only 2 ties to win till the group stage