UEFA Cup: FCK against Cliftonville FC

The draw for the first qualifying round in the UEFA Cup sends F.C. Copenhagen to Northern Ireland to take on Cliftonville FC from Belfast, who finished third in the Carnegie Premier League last season. The first game will be played on July 17th in Lurgan some 30 kilometres southwest of Belfast, and the return leg in PARKEN in Copenhagen on July 31th. The exact time for kick off is yet to be announced.

Copenhagen began their preparations for the new season last Monday and on Saturday played the first pre-season-friendly against current UEFA Cup-holders, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The russians missed 5 players, who had been on international duty with Russia in Euro 2008, but Copenhagen also missed key players as Libor Sionko and Zdenek Pospech (Czech internationals who also took part of Euro 2008), canadian international Atiba Hutchinson and the injured Rasmus Würtz, Mikael Antonsson and Jesper Gronkjaer. Copenhagen comfortably won defeated Zenit 2-0 thanks to first half-goals from Ailton Almeida and Morten Nordstrand.

On Wednesday night Copenhagen will take on newly relegated SAS League-neighbours from Lyngby, and on Sunday the squad travel to southern Austria for a training camp, where they will play Wisla Krakow and Hertha Berlin.

Four days after the first leg against Cliftonville, Copenhagen play their first game of the new season in The Danish Superleague against Esbjerg in PARKEN.