Battle of Britain

UEFA Cup draw pits Celtic against Blackburn

NYON, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Scottish champions Celtic face an all-British showdown with English side Blackburn Rovers in the UEFA Cup second round following Tuesday's draw.

The tie was one of several eye-catching fixtures to come out of the hat at UEFA headquarters but a number of the games provoked security concerns.

Italian club Lazio play 1991 European champions Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia, while England's Leeds United face Israel's Hapoel Tel Aviv, the team who knocked out Chelsea last season.

Fulham, who beat Hajduk Split of Croatia in the first round, play another Croat side, Dinamo Zagreb. Greek club Panathinaikos tackle Turkish rivals Fenerbahce in another notable tie.

Norwegian side Viking Stavanger, whose victory over Chelsea was the shock of the first round, have a tough draw against Spanish team Celta Vigo.

The first leg matches take place on October 31, with the return matches on November 14.

Celtic host the first leg of their game against Blackburn, with the Scottish club's striker Chris Sutton facing the team he helped to the English premier league title in 1995.

Blackburn club secretary Tom Finn told reporters at the draw: "We're very excited. Manager Graeme Souness had a feeling we would get Celtic.

"There will be terrific interest for the match in Blackburn because Celtic are a very big club. We're also looking forward to seeing Chris Sutton back at Blackburn."

Celtic's head of operations Ronnie Hawthorn said: "It's going to be a tremendous competition, a tough game for both teams."

The all-British tie will revive memories of Celtic's 1997 UEFA Cup first round clash with Liverpool which the English side won on the away goals rule after a late Steve McManaman strike gave them a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Celtic Park.

Yugoslav side Red Star will do well to survive against Lazio, the 1999 European Cup Winners' Cup winners who host the first leg in Rome.

Red Star's sports director, former striker Dusan Savic, said: "Lazio will be difficult opponents. Their team is playing well at the moment.

"They also have former Red Star players [Sinisa] Mihajlovic and [Dejan] Stankovic in their team. The two games will be very interesting and both stadiums should be full."

Lazio director Felice Pulici said: "Red Star are sure to cause problems for us."

The other big Italian side in the draw, 1999 UEFA Cup winners Parma, face Polish side Wisla Krakow in a tie that will raise security fears.

Knife thrown

The Polish side were banned from European competition for a year by UEFA after an incident when they played Parma at the same stage of the same competition in 1998-99.

A knife was thrown from the crowd during the first leg of the tie in Krakow in October 1998 and struck Parma's Dino Baggio. Parma won the tie 3-2 on aggregate and went on to win the Cup by beating Marseille in the final.

Krakow won the Polish league that season but were barred from entering the Champions League due to their suspension. A fan was later jailed for the knife-throwing incident.

Another match likely to prompt security concerns will be Leeds's game against Hapoel, who played their home game in the first round in Bulgaria because of the volatile situation in Israel.

The first leg is at Elland Road but the venue for the second leg is not yet decided.

Fulham will also hope to avoid the racial abuse that some of their black players claimed they received against Hajduk in Split when they return to Croatia to face Dinamo Zagreb.

The fourth remaining English side, Ipswich Town, play Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic.

Fenerbahce-Panathinaikos tie to test joint Euro bid

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Panathinaikos will meet Fenerbahce in the first clash between Greek and Turkish teams in a major European club competition following the UEFA Cup second-round draw on Tuesday.

The closest Greek and Turkish teams have come to a major European fixture was an Intertoto Cup tie between OFI Crete and Bursaspor in 1995.

Turkey and Greece are also bidding to co-host the European Championships in 2008, and the tie will provide Europe's governing body UEFA with a valuable test case before they make a decision in December.

Athens side Panathinaikos travel to Istanbul for the game against Fenerbahce on October 31 with the return leg on November 14.

"Recently we have had warm relations with Greece," Fenerbahce official Vedat Olcay told the Anatolian news agency on Tuesday.

"Our veterans went there and played a match. We want Turkish-Greek friendship to be at the forefront of these two UEFA matches.

"The Greek team are a mid-level side compared to the others. I am sure we will get through," he added.

Sami Colgecen, coordinator of the joint Turkish-Greece bid, said the game offered a "fantastic opportunity" to showcase their strengths.

"It's the match of the draw," he told Reuters in Istanbul. "I am sure nothing will happen and that we will emerge with a plus point for our bid."

Turkey and Greece have a history of conflict and bad blood in the 20th century.

They almost went to war in the 1990s over rights to small islets in the Aegean Sea but devastating earthquakes in both countries in 1999 helped start a delicate process of rapprochement.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou met with UEFA's chief executive Gerhard Aigner in Lausanne on Monday, one week before an inspection team is due to travel to Athens and Ankara to assess progress on the joint proposal.

Important incentive

"I believe sport will form an important incentive in this new enlarged Europe to enable youth from all over the continent to come together," Papandreou was quoted as saying by the semi-official Athens News Agency (ANA).

Despite the increase in the number of European matches since the introduction of the Champions League, no Greek side has ever been drawn against Turkish opposition.

Panathinaikos' Portuguese coach Fernando Santos voiced his support for the regional bid.

"It's a great initiative from the Greek and Turkish federations. I believe the joint-hosting would upgrade football in both countries," he told the official 2008 Web site.

The under-fire former Porto coach showed less enthusiasm for the Fenerbahce tie after his struggling team needed extra-time to see off unfancied Polish opponents Litex Lovech in the UEFA Cup first round.

"It's the most difficult draw we could have had. It's going to be a tough battle and it's completely open who will go on to the next round," he said.

Greek soccer remains in a state of crisis and the UEFA inspection team are due to arrive in Athens on October 14 with two weeks still to run on a threatened league shutdown.

There is no end in sight to a row between the government and club owners demanding compensation for lost digital TV revenues.

UEFA fined Fenerbahce 50,000 Swiss francs ($33,830) in September for crowd problems in their Champions League qualifier against Feyenoord in August.

Turkish fans threw objects on to the pitch and the match was delayed at half time to allow smoke from flares to disperse.

Hapoel search for venue for Leeds UEFA Cup tie

NYON, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Hapoel Tel Aviv were left searching for a venue for their UEFA Cup match against Leeds United after Tuesday's draw for the second round of the competition.

Hapoel, who knocked Chelsea out of the UEFA Cup last season and were delighted to be drawn against English opposition again, are banned by UEFA from playing at home because of the tense security situation in the Middle East.

While the first leg is scheduled to take place at Leeds on October 31, Hapoel must find a place for the return leg on November 14.

Rafael Agiv, a part-owner of the Israeli club told Reuters after the draw: "Leeds is a wonderful draw for us.

"Unfortunately, because of the situation we can't play at home. But we hope this will soon change. We are trying to find a good venue because there are lots of spectators who would like to see the match.

"We are searching now, looking at Italy, Switzerland and Cyprus.

"But Cyprus could be tricky because they still have two teams in the competition. We hope to announce a venue in the next two days.

"All of Israel is waiting. The Israeli national teams can't even play matches at home. We hope the situation calms down and UEFA comes and checks out the situation and gives us a chance to play in our stadium.

"Our last match in Sofia was a shame. It's not our aim to play in front of 100 spectators because it was a big disadvantage. We lost lots of money."

Maccabi Haifa are playing their home Champions League matches in Cyprus, while the Israeli failed to find a venue for Saturday's European 2004 qualifier against Cyprus which has now been postponed until next spring.

UEFA Cup, Second Round Draw:

Home teams listed first
First Leg -- Oct. 31
Second Leg -- Nov. 14

   Fenerbahce (Turkey) vs. Panathinaikos (Greece) 
   Malaga (Spain) vs. Amica Wronki (Poland) 
   Lazio (Italy) vs. Red Star Belgrade (Yugoslavia) 
   Ipswich (England) vs. Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) 
   Ferencvaros (Hungary) vs. Stuttgart (Germany) 
   Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus) vs. Boavista (Portugal) 
   Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Fulham (England) 
   Parma (Italy) vs. Wisla Krakow (Poland) 
   Anderlecht (Belgium) vs. Midtjylland (Denmark) 
   Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) vs. Partizan (Yugoslavia) 
   APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) vs. Hertha Berlin (Germany) 
   Deportivo Alaves (Spain) vs. Besiktas (Turkey) 
   Legia Warsaw (Poland) vs. Schalke 04 (Germany) 
   Sturm Graz (Austria) vs. Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) 
   PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece) vs. Grasshoppers (Switzerland) 
   Djurgarden (Sweden) vs. Bordeaux (France) 
   Viktoria Zizkov (Czech Republic) vs. Real Betis (Spain) 
   Leeds (England) vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) 
   Austria Vienna (Austria) vs. Porto (Portugal) 
   Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) vs. Denizlispor (Turkey) 
   National Bucharest (Romania) vs. Paris Saint-Germain (France) 
   Celtic (Scotland) vs. Blackburn Rovers (England) 
   Vitesse (Netherlands) vs. Werder Bremen (Germany) 
   Celta Vigo (Spain) vs. Viking (Norway)

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.