Defending champion CSKA Moscow has lost its first UEFA Cup football match in 11 games. The French club Marseille defeated the Russians Thursday, 2-1.
AS Roma of Italy, Germany's Stuttgart and Hertha Berlin, and Palermo of Spain also won during the first rotation of the UEFA Cup's group stage. Also winning was Viking Stavanger of Norway beat 2004 Champions League runner-up Monaco, 1-0.
The top three teams from each of the eight five-team groups advance to the knockout round of 32. Each club plays four times, twice at home and twice away, with the schedule decided randomly.
Roma was a 2-1 winner over Tromso of Norway. Palermo defeated Maccabi Petach-Tikva of Israel, 2-1. Hertha Berlin topped Halmstads BK of Sweden, 1-0. Stuttgart scored a 2-0 win over Rennes of France.
In other UEFA results (home teams listed first):
| CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) 0 | Hamburg (Germany) 1 |
| Steaua Bucharest (Romania) 4 | Lens (France) 0 |
| Grasshoppers (Switzerland) 0 | Middlesbrough (England) 1 |
| Dnipro (Ukraine) 1 | AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) 2 |
| FC Basel (Switzerland) 0 | Strasbourg (France) 2 |
| Dinamo Bucharest (Romania) 0 | Heerenveen (Netherlands) 0 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 1 | PAOK (Greece) 0 |
| Besiktas (Turkey) 1 | Bolton (England) 1 |
| Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia) 2 |
Guimaraes (Portugal) 1 |
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.