Uefa turns to seed protests over Liverpool
By Oliver Kay
HAJDUK Split, the champions of Croatia, have followed Slavia Prague in
protesting to Uefa after Liverpool were guaranteed to be among the top seeds in
all three qualifying rounds for the Champions League, but the governing body
indicated last night that the holders position is secure.
Uefa made provisions to admit Liverpool two weeks ago, after Rafael Benítezs
team failed to secure the FAs nomination for one of the four Champions League
berths, but the controversy was reignited when Slavia Prague, runners-up in the
Czech league, complained that they could miss out on being seeded in the third
qualifying round as a result of the reshuffle.
NI_MPU('middle');William Gaillard, Uefas director of communications, revealed
yesterday that Hajduk had registered their disapproval after potentially losing
their right to be seeded in the second qualifying round, but said that a change
of policy was unlikely.
Liverpools potential opponents in the first-round draw include Glentoran and
Total Network Solutions, champions of Northern Ireland and Wales respectively.
The two legs are due to take place in the weeks commencing July 11 and 18.
Everton will not be seeded in the third qualifying round, meaning they could
face Liverpool, who, under the terms of their entry, are not afforded country
protection.
Liverpools bid to relocate from Anfield to a 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley
Park suffered a setback yesterday. Only 48 hours after the Northwest
Development Agency declined the clubs application for a £23 million grant, it
emerged that a further £9 million of funding, offered by Merseysides Objective
1 Programme, may be withdrawn, pending a meeting scheduled for July 20.
HOW THE DRAW WORKS
Seventy-four clubs will take part in the Champions League
The three qualifying rounds, involving 58 clubs, will produce 16 sides who will
join the 16 clubs who have been given exemption into the group stages
The Champions League draw is seeded into four sections, with the provisional
seedings below. A team will be selected from each section after qualifying to
form eight groups
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are among the top eight seeds and
avoid Europes leading clubs. Chelsea, in the second section of seeds, could
play AC Milan, Barcelona or Liverpool.
Everton, should they negotiate the qualifying round, lie in 42nd place in the
seedings and would be one of the lowest teams in the draw
Top section: 1, Real Madrid; 2, Barcelona; 3, AC Milan; 4, Liverpool, 5,
Manchester United; 6, Inter Milan, 7, Bayern Munich; 8, Arsenal
Second section: 9, FC Porto; 10, Juventus; 11, PSV Eindhoven; 12, Chelsea; 13,
Lyons; 14, Olympiakos; 15, Schalke 04; 16, Sparta Prague
Third section: 17, Lille; 18, Benfica; 19, Fenerbahçe; 20, Panathinaikos; 21,
Celtic; 22, Villarreal; 23, Sporting Lisbon; 24, AS Monaco
Fourth section: 25, Ajax; 26, FC Bruges; 27, Anderlecht; 28, Rangers; 29,
Dynamo Kiev; 30, Werder Bremen; 31, Lokomotiv Moscow; 32, Rosenborg
= KEEP Manchester United Football Club INDEPENDENT =
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