This season's UEFA Cup group stages are about to get
under way, and the draw saw two of the three Egyptians
in European competition this year in the same group.
Eight groups of five were drawn. Each team plays four
games, two at home and two away. The top three will
get through, making 24 teams, and 8 teams will follow
from the Champions League should they finish 3rd in
their CL group. First faces third and second faces third
from the Champions League
in a later draw.
The Draw:
Mohamed Zidan's Hamburg were drawn in Group D with
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Brann (Norway), Rennes (France)
and Basel (Switzerland).
Ahmed Hassan's Anderlecht and Hossam Ghaly's Tottenham
were put in Group G alongside AaB (Denmark), Hapoel
Tel-Aviv (Israel) and Getafe (Spain).
The Fixtures:
Hamburg:
Away to Brann (15/10)
Home to Rennes (29/11)
Away to Dinamo Zagreb (5/12)
Home to Basel (20/12)
Anderlecht:
Home to Tel-Aviv (25/10)
Away to AaB (8/11) Home to Tottenham (6/12)
Away to Getafe (19/12)
It is worth noting that no other Egyptians reached the UEFA
Cup this season. Anderlecht were set to play in the Champions
League but were eliminated in qualifying by Fenerbahce. Hamburg
reached via the Inter-Toto Cup while Spurs went through automatically
partly due to the effort Hossam Ghaly put in the Premiership
last season to help them finish 5th.
Half-Egyptian Rami Shaaban reached the tournament through
the Norweigan Cup but went out in the Second Qualifying Round.
Mohamed Zidan's former team FC Midtjylland are established
in Denmark and reached the UEFA Cup but also went out in qualifying.
Mido's former team Ajax are living bad days as they went out
in the First Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup, while when
Mido was there, they were hoping to go as far as possible
in the Champions League.
EP will bring you extensive coverage of the three Egyptians
in the UEFA Cup...
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