The English football club Newcastle has ended Palermo's UEFA Cup tournament winning streak. Newcastle scored a 1-0 win Thursday over the Italian team in the second round of the group stage. Palermo had won its three previous games.
In the other Group-H game, Celta Vigo of Spain kicked off its campaign with a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany.
Rangers of Scotland took the Group-A lead with a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa of Israel. Also in the group, Livorno of Italy and Serb opponent Partizan Belgrade played to a one-goal draw, 1-1.
The English club Tottenham tops Group-B with a 3-1 win over Club Brugge of Belgium. Dinamo Bucharest of Romania finished with nine men but beat Besiktas of Turkey, 2-1, in the other Group-B match.
The next round of games is on November 23.
Elsewhere in UEFA Cup action Thursday:
(Home teams listed first)
Group-C
Braga (Portugal) 4, Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) 0
Grasshoppers (Switzerland) 2, AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) 5
Group-D
Heerenveen (Netherlands) 0, OB Odense (Denmark) 2
Lens (France) 3, Osasuna (Spain) 1
Group-E
Blackburn (England) 3, FC Basel (Switzerland) 0
Nancy (France) 2, Wisla Krakow (Poland) 1
Group-F
Zulte-Waregem (Belgium) 3, Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) 1
Ajax (Netherlands) 3, Austria Vienna (Austria) 0
Group-G
Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) 2, Rapid Bucharest (Romania) 2
Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic) 0, Panathinaikos (Greece) 1
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.