The draw has been held for European football's UEFA Cup tournament with reigning champion CSKA Moscow starting against FC Midtylland of Denmark in the first round.
CSKA, the first Russian club to win a major European title, beat Sporting Lisbon last May in Portugal, 3-1. Sporting plays Halmstad of Sweden in the first round this year.
English Premiership club Everton takes on Dinamo Bucharest in the second-tiered competition. Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, the 1988 UEFA Cup champion, plays CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria in the first round.
Another Bulgaria club, Lokomotiov Plovdiv was paired against England's Bolton Wanderers. However, Lokomotiv was shocked to learn of the killing of its president, Georgi Iliev, who was shot in a seaside nightclub near Burgas shortly after Lokomotiv beat OFK Belgrade 1-0 on Thursday night. Police are investigating the incident.
Feyenoord of the Netherlands opens the tournament against Rapid Bucharest of Romania while Brondby of Denmark plays FC Zurich of Switzerland.
Action in the 80-team first round gets underway September 15, with the return leg matches September 29. The first round winners advance to the group stage, with the UEFA Cup final scheduled for May 10, 2006 at the Philips Stadion, the home of PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
