Nyon, Switzerland (My Sportsbook) - Fenerbahce, which was a quarterfinalist in the Champions League last season, was drawn against MTK Budapest on Tuesday for the 2008-09 Champions League. The draw for the first two qualifying rounds was held, and Fenerbahce was among 14 teams given byes into the second round of qualifying on July 29-30 and Aug. 5-6. UEFA Cup finalists Rangers is one of the other teams given a bye. The Champions League qualifying stages begin with the first round on July 15-16 and July 22-23. The 14 winners advance to the second round to fill out the 28- team stage. The second qualifying round winners will advance to the third qualifying round, where they will be joined by another 18 teams, with the draw on Aug. 1. The 32 clubs involved will then compete in 16 fixtures for the right to follow the 16 automatic qualifiers into the group stage. This season's final will be played at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on May 27, 2009. Following are the first and second round qualifying draws: First qualifying round draw: Linfield (Northern Ireland) vs. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) Valetta (Malta) vs. Artmedia Petrzalka (Slovakia) Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) vs. NSI Runavik (Faroe Islands) 4 Santa Coloma (Andorra) vs. Kaunus (Lithuania) Murata (San Marino) vs. IFK Goteborg (Sweden) Llanelli (Wales) vs. Ventspils (Latvia) Anorthosis Famugusta (Cyprus) vs. Pyunik (Armenia) FK Inter Baki (Azerbaijan) vs. Rabotnicki (Macedonia) Tampere United (Finland) vs. Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro) F91 Dudelange (Luxemborg) vs. Domzale (Slovenia) Dinamo Tirana (Albania) vs. FK Modrica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Aktobe (Kasakhstan) vs. Sheriff (Moldova) Drogheda United (Ireland) vs. Levadia Tallinn (Estonia) FC BATE Borisov (Belarus) vs. Valur (Iceland) Second qualifying round draw: Rangers (Scotland) vs. FC Santa Coloma-FBK Kaunus winner SK Brann (Norway) vs. Llanelli-Ventspils winner FK Inter Baki-Rabotnicki winner vs. Partizan (Serbia) Tampere United-Buducnost Podgorica winner vs. Valetta-Artmedia Petrzalka winner Anorthosis Famugusta-Pyunik winner vs. Rapid Vienna (Austria) F91 Dudelange-Domzale winner vs. Linfield-Dinamo Zagreb winner Panathinaikos (Greece) vs. Dinamo Tbilisi-NSI Runavik winner Murata-IFK Goteborg winner vs. Basel (Switzerland) Aktobe-Sheriff winner vs. Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) Drogheda United-Levadia Tallinn vs. FC Dinamo Kyiv (Ukraine) RSC Anderlecht (BEL) vs. FC BATE Borisov-Valur winner Beitar Jerusalem FC (Israel) vs. Wisla Krakow (Poland) Fenerbahce (TUR) vs. Budapest (Hungary) Aalborg (Denmark) vs. Dinamo Tirana-FK Modrica winner |
