The UEFA cup

The UEFA Cup is a famous competition for European club teams, one of European soccer's important events. After the UEFA Champions League, it is the second most important competition in European football. The UEFA Cup Final will be played on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at the City of Manchester stadium.
The UEFA Cup was first played in 1971; its first winner became English team Tottenham Hotspur. In 1999 the competition was merged with another European competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. The current holders of the UEFA Cup are Sevilla Football Club, which also holds such major trophies as Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.

UEFA team ranking coefficient, which is a statistical tool, determines which clubs do or do not belong in the earlier stages. The current format of the competition is as follows: it starts with two qualifying rounds. Participants ranked 18 enter the first qualifying round, and participants ranked 9-18 enter the second qualifying round. Winners of the qualifying rounds join teams ranked 1-13.

After the first round, the clubs are drawn into eight groups containing five people. Each club plays two home and two away games. The top three teams in each group advance, and joined by the eight third-place teams in the UEFA Champions League group phase.

Every match from the UEFA Championship League will be covered live on the Internet. Millions of viewers will be given the opportunity to watch UEFA Cup on-line. Every match from the championship will be covered by the media in articles, reviews and TV news. Clips from the matches will be available in streaming videos in the Internet.