A very interesting report just appeared on Ajax Netwerk about the third preliminary round of the Champions League (= the one in which Ajax will jump aboard the bandwagon)...

First off, please write this down in your agendas, the draw for the third qualifying round will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, on 25 July 2003.

Secondly, Ajax will be one of the seeded teams in the draw, which means we will not be paired with the big shots. Out of the teams qualified for the third preliminary round so far, we will surely not draw against the following sides: Lazio Roma, Chelsea FC, AEK Athens, Borusssia Dortmund, Newcastle United, Glasgow Rangers, Sparta Prague, Olympique Marseille, Lokomotiv Moscow and Dinamo Kiev.

And last but not least: the dates for the third preliminary round games are: 12/12 August and 26/27 August.

There you go.

So, in the above post I put a few of the clubs we can not be paired with, due to the fact that Ajax will be a seeded team in the draw. The Lazio and Chelsea category will be seed, too.

Here is a selection of the non-seeded sides we can bump into:

Club Bruges (Belgium)
Rosenborg BK (Norway)
Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Grasshopper Club (Switzerland)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Benfica (Portugal)
Grazer AK (Austria)
Shaktar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia-Montenegro)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
CSKA Sofija (Bulgaria)
Austria Vienna (Austria)
MTK Budapest (Hungary)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)

Plus, of course, a handful of 'survivors' from the first and second rounds. Let's go, KR Reykjavik!!.

Interesting to note that the KR Reykjavik tie would have a little bit of spice added to it as a couple of their players have a certain team from down the road listed on their cv.

Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia-Montenegro formerly known as Yugoslavia. The capital city of Bosnia I Hercegovina is Sarajevo

A trip to Iceland or a border clash v. a Belgian outfit would be my choices,in that order. The security situation in the repective countries might put a spanner in the works,i.e. keeping the travelling contingent to a smaller contingent, if our lads are drawn v. a side from Israel or Serbia-Montenegro.

How about Austria Vienna?

Would be nice to sing some songs for Joey Didulica, as he missed the official 'farewell' thing after the Heerenveen home game (he'd had minor nose surgery the day before).

The problem is: they may have a pretty good team. I hope for a weaker team. That's why I don't really hope for a Belgian side: why would you hope for Anderlecht or Club Bruges (pretty good teams, traditionally) if you can also draw against a team from Luxemburg, Cyprus or Iceland?

It's not really important to me whether we get an attractive opponent (like Celtic...). I want an easy opponent. Let's just do the business and qualify for the thing. The weaker the better. Once we're in the first round group stage, I do hope we'll get Bruges or Anderlecht, tho.

First thing : A weak side is dangerous cause then Ajax will be tempted to be a bit
scornful as usual and that is a reason for losing a match sometimes....

Second : I really would like tehm to qualify.........I'll hang myself if they don't !!

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Bertrand
First thing : A weak side is dangerous cause then Ajax will be tempted to be a bit scornful as usual and that is a reason for losing a match sometimes....

---

Quote:

---

Second : I really would like tehm to qualify.........I'll hang myself if they don't !!

---

Man you have to understand.....I've just learnt that i'm sorta screwing my studies up, so I just hope I have something I can rely on ......

I dont think theres much danger of getting a strong team, but remember lusane sports in the uefa cup? Gentlemen we could be in trouble

Uefa.com have just announced the latest "coefficients", which I believe has a bearing on how we would be seeded in the groups (should we qualify).

Can somebody explain what the implication is of a 54.749 (versus P$Vs 60.479.....or Panathinaikos' 72.391!!!)

Cheers,

i believe that means we're not as good as those teams

Yup...

p$v always looks like a bunch of girls in the Champions League, but they did reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup twice in recent years. Note that the UEFA coefficient system 'skips a year': last season doesn't count yet. Our coefficient for 2003-2004 is based on the five season from 1998-2002. That whole period was absolutely horrible for Ajax, so that's why our coefficient is piss-poor. We'll make a jump next season (our quarter final will start counting then).

I can see why there is interest in going to Iceland,beyond tourism and women whose name ends in Dottir("Daughter of" I think).Our 54.749 rating at #21 looks pretty good next to KR Reykjavik's 1.749 at #61.

Austria Wien, aka Ajax East, would be my second choice. Joe D has shown he can play a mean game in goal but the signing of "Ter Laat" Frank Verlaat by them should make Joe's life miserable.Ter Laat ,35, was signed to a two year deal.

Ok then here we go.
The draw for the first two qualifying rounds have now been made and our 3rd Qualifying Round opponent were highlighted fairly early on UEFA.com viz:
"Twenty teams were in the hat for the first qualifying round matches which include Armenia's best side FC Pyunik against KR Reykjavík"


The full draw is:

First-leg matches: 16 July
Second-leg matches: 23 July
Match
1 FC Pyunik (ARM) v KR Reykjavík (ISL)
2 FC Sheriff (MOL) v FC Flora (EST)
3 HB Tórshavn (FAR) v FBK Kaunas (LIT)
4 FC BATE Borisov (BLS) v Bohemian FC (IRL)
5 FK Vardar (MKD) v Barry Town AFC (WAL)
6 CS Grevenmacher (LUX) v FK Leotar (BHZ)
7 HJK Helsinki (FIN) v Glentoran FC (NIR)
8 Sliema Wanderers FC (MLT) v FC Skonto (LAT)
9 Omonia AC (CYP) v FC Irtysh Pavlodar (KAZ)
10 FC Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v KF Tirana (ALB)



UEFA Champions League second qualifying round draw
First-leg matches: 30 July 2003
Second-leg matches: 6 August 2003
MTK Hungária FC (HUN) v Winners match 7
Winners match 1 v PFC CSKA Sofia (BUL)
Winners match 3 v Celtic FC (SCO)
Winners match 6 v SK Slavia Praha (CZE)
Winners match 2 v FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
MŠK Žilina (SVK) v Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
Winners match 4 v Rosenborg BK (NOR)
NK Maribor (SLO) v NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS) v Winners match 5
AFC Rapid Bucuresti (ROM) v RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
FK Partizan (YUG) v Djurgårdens IF (SWE)
Wisla Kraków (POL) v Winners match 9
CH (DEN)* v Winners match 8
Winners match 10 v Grazer AK (AUT)


All I can say is come on KR, we are waiting and I am really glad that I am not an Anderlecht fan. What an awful draw for them