UEFA Champions League playoffs draw out

The draw for the final round of qualifiers for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League was carried out yesterday in Nyon, Switzerland. The toughest encounter on paper looks to be English Premier League side FC Arsenal having to face Italian Serie A side Udinese Calcio.

The other interesting ties involve Dutch side FC Twente Enschede against Portuguese giants SL Benfica Lisbon, Denmark's Odense BK taking on the yellow submarine of Villarreal CF from Spain and German giants FC Bayern Munich taking on their Swiss counterparts FC Zurich.

Especially for Bayern Munich it will be important to progress to the group stages and possibly as far as they can get as the final of this seasons UEFA Champions League will be played on May 19, 2012 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

The playoff matches will be played on August 16/17 and August 23/24. The draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage will be held on August 25 in Monaco with the losing sides from the playoffs getting a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.


UEFA Champions League - Play-off Round

Champions route
Wisla Kraków (POLAND) - APOEL FC (CYPRUS)
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISRAEL) - KRC Genk (BELGIUM)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CROATIA) - Malmö FF (SWEDEN)
FC København (DENMARK) - FC Viktoria Plzen (CZECH REPUBLIC)
FC BATE Borisov (BULGARIA) - SK Sturm Graz (AUSTRIA)

League route
Odense BK (DENMARK) - Villarreal CF (SPAIN)
FC Twente Enschede (NETHERLANDS) - SL Benfica Lisboa (PORTUGAL)
Arsenal FC (ENGLAND) - Udinese Calcio (ITALY)
FC Bayern München (GERMANY) - FC Zürich (SWITZERLAND)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRANCE) - FC Rubin Kazan (RUSSIA)