Soccer international: Fixtures and information about UEFA-Cup Season 2008/09

On Livetipsportal.com you find the fixtures and some important information about the UEFA-Cup season 2008/09 like the UEFA-Country Ranking, the UEFA-coefficients, Access list and the seeding of the teams in the qualifying rounds and the group stage of the second-most important European football competition.

Current UEFA-Cup: the first qualifying round (17th of July and 31st of July) is completely played. At the moment 64 teams are involved in the second qualifying round. The first legs (14th of August) of the second qualifying round were already played, the return matches were on 26.8.-28.8.2008. After the two qualifying rounds 80 teams fight in the first round of the UEFA Cup for 40 places of the group stage.

Fixtures of 1st round: 18th of September and 2nd of October. The UEFA-Cup group stage starts on 23.10.2008 and ends on 18.12.2008. The group stage is played in eight groups of five teams. From February it goes on in the knockout round with 32 teams. Qualified for the k.o.-round are the first-placed, second-placed, and third-placed teams from the group stage, as well as the third-placed teams from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Fixtures knockout round: Round of 32 (18/19.02.2009 and 26.02.2009), Round of 16 (12.03.2009 and 18/19.03.2009), Quarter-finals (09.04.2009 and 16.04.2009), Semi-finals (30.04.2009 and 07.05.2009). The final is decided by a single match. In current season 2008/09 the final will be played in Istanbul (Turkey) on the 20th of May 2009 – one week before the Champions League final.

Fixtures UEFA-Cup 2008/09:
First qualifying round, 1st leg 17.07.2008
First qualifying round, 2nd leg 31.07.2008
Second qualifying round, 1st leg 14.08.2008
Second qualifying round, 2nd leg 28.08.2008
First round, 1st leg 18.09.2008
First round, 2nd leg 02.10.2008
Group stage, Matchday 1 23.10.2008
Group stage, Matchday 2 06.11.2008
Group stage, Matchday 3 27.11.2008
Group stage, Matchday 4 03/04.12.2008
Group stage, Matchday 5 17/18.12.2008
Round of 32, 1st leg 18/19.02.2009
Round of 32, 2nd leg 26.02.2009
Round of 16, 1st leg 12.03.2009
Round of 16 2nd leg 18/19.03.2009
Quarter-finals, 1st leg 09.04.2009
Quarter-finals, 2nd leg 16.04.2009
Semi-finals, 1st leg 30.04.2009
Semi-finals, 2nd leg 07.05.2009
Final (Istanbul, Turkey) 20.05.2009

Which teams start in which phase of the UEFA-Cup?
General info: The defending cup-holder spot will this season not be used because Zenit St. Petersburg qualified for the Champions league. Therefore the cup winner of the 14th country on the country ranking list (Kayserispor from Turkey) will gain direct access to the 1st round of the UEFA-Cup.

First qualifying round: 76 teams
35 cup winners from countries ranked 19-53
32 second-placed teams from countries ranked 19-53 (except Liechtenstein, Andorra und San Marino)
6 third-placed teams from countries ranked 16-21
3 teams of the Fair Play competition

Second qualifying round: 64 teams
38 winners from first qualifying round
5 cup winners from countries ranked 14-18
3 second-placed teams from countries ranked 16-18
7 third-placed teams from countries ranked 9-15
11 teams of the Intertoto competition (UI-Cup)

First round: 80 teams
32 winners from the second qualifying round
13 cup winners from countries ranked 1-13
2 third-placed teams from countries ranked 7-8
5 fourth-placed teams from countries ranked 4-8
8 fifth-placed teams from countries ranked 1-8
3 sixth-placed teams from countries ranked 1-3
16 teams eliminated from the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League
1 defending cup holder

Group stage: 8 groups of 5 teams
40 winners of the first round

Knockout stage: 32 teams
Qualified are first-placed, second-placed, and third-placed teams from the group stage (24 teams) and the 8 third-placed teams from the group stage of the Champions League. These 32 teams play in the K.o.-system (Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final) for the UEFA-Cup.

ACCESS LIST
UEFA-five-year country ranking for season 2008/09:
1. Spain 76.891
2. England 68.540
3. Italy 66.088
4. France 53.656
5. Germany 44.364
6. Portugal 42.749
7. Romania 40.165
8. Netherlands 39.379
9. Russia 36.125
10. Scotland 30.500
11. Ukraine 29.475
12. Belgium 29.075
13. Czech Republic 26.825
14. Turkey 26.641
15. Greece 25.497
16. Bulgaria 24.582
17. Switzerland 23.850
18. Norway 19.725
19. Israel 19.208
20. Serbia 18.958
21. Denmark 18.575
22. Austria 18.500
23. Poland 17.000
24. Hungary 14.165
25. Slovakia 10.832
26. Croatia 10.708
27. Cyprus 10.582
28. Sweden 10.541
29. Slovenia 9.915
30. Bosnia-Herzegovina 9.665
31. Latvia 8.664
32. Lithuania 7.332
33. Finland 7.331
34. Moldova 7.166
35. Ireland 6.498
36. Georgia 6.164
37. Liechtenstein 6.000
38. Macedonia 5.831
39. Iceland 4.999
40. Belarus 4.665
41. Albania 3.832
42. Estonia 3.665
43. Armenia 3.498
44. Azerbaijan 3.166
45. Kazakhstan 2.332
46. Northern Ireland 2.165
47. Wales 1.998
48. Faroe Islands 1.665
49. Luxembourg 1.665
50. Malta 1.665
51. Andorra 0.000
52. San Marino 0.000
53. Montenegro 0.000

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Soccer international: Fixtures and information about UEFA-Cup Season 2008/09

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