Football Media

The UEFA Europa League play-off draw just ended, yielding some very interesting clashes.

Liverpool meets Trabzonspor, while Celtic Glasgow meets Utrecht.

Steaua Bucarest – Grashoppers is another great clash.

But, without further ado, here’s the full list of games in the UEFA Europa League play-off.

• PSG – M. Tel Aviv
• Leverkusen – Tavriya
• CSKA Moscow – Anorthosis
• Hajduk Split – Unirea Urziceni
• Feyenoord – Gent
• Genk – Porto
• Debrecen – Lovech
• Aris – Austria Wien
• Galatasaray – Karpaty
• Palermo – Maribor
• Brugge – Dinamo Minsk
• Omonia – Metalist
• Vaslui – Lille
• Napoli – Elfsborg
• Sporting – Brondby
• Grashoppers – Steaua
• Liverpool – Trabzonspor
• Celtic – Utrecht
• Dortmund – Qarabag
• AIK Solna – Levski
• Sturm – Juventus
• Getafe – APOEL
• Dundee United – AEK
• AZ Alkmaar – Aktobe
• Dnipro – Lech Poznan
• Rapid Wien – Aston Villa
• CSKA Sofia – TNS
• Besiktas – HJK
• Slovan Bratislava – Stuttgart
• Sibir – PSV
• BATE Borisvo – Maritimo
• Lausanne – Lokomotiv Moskva
• Gyor – Dynamo Zagreb
• Odense – Motherwell
• PAOK – Fenerbahce
• Villareal – Dnepr
• Timisoara – Manchester City

Draws for play-offs to be held at UEFA Headquarters on 6 August

The draw for the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League and of the UEFA Europa League will take place on Friday 6 August at the House of European Football in Nyon, starting at 12.00 and 13.30 CET respectively.

The draw ceremonies will be conducted by UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino and UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti.

For the champions route in the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League, the 10 teams will be divided in equal number with 5 teams seeded and 5 teams unseeded in accordance with the UEFA club coefficient rankings.

For the league route, which is the new name of the qualifying path involving the “non-champions” of the top 15 associations, the 10 teams will also be divided in equal number with 5 teams seeded and 5 unseeded.

For the UEFA Europa League draw, the 74 teams will be divided into 5 groups of 10 teams and into 2 groups of 12 teams, with an equal number of clubs seeded and unseeded withineach group. Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

The Technical Sub-Committee of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) approved several requests from member associations and confederations to implement the experiment with two additional assistant referees during the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons at a meeting held today, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 in Cardiff, Wales. The full list of approved requests can be found below.

At a previous Special Meeting of the IFAB held in Zurich on 18 May 2010, the Board had reviewed the experiment with two additional assistant referees that was carried out in the 2009/2010 UEFA Europa League, and had decided to continue the experiment until the 126th IFAB Annual General Meeting in 2012, but not to limit it to a single confederation. Therefore, confederations and member associations wishing to conduct this experiment were invited to inform IFAB of their interest for a decision to be taken at the meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee in Wales.

Four basic criteria had been established in order to approve the experiment:

1. The experiment must be conducted in member associations’ professional leagues and competitions or at confederation level (club competitions only).

2. The experiment must be completed in time to allow a decision to be taken in 2012.

3. The additional costs incurred by conducting such an experiment must be covered by the relevant league, member association or confederation.

4. It is mandatory for all matches in the applicable competition to be officiated with two additional assistant referees.

Based on these criteria, the following requests were approved, provided that the protocol established by the IFAB for the experiment is followed:

Asian Football Confederation (AFC): AFC President’s Cup 2010 (24-26 September)

Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF): Campeonato Baiano de Futebol Feminino 2010 (Sept-Dec 2010), Campeonato Carioca de 2011

Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (FMF): Torneo Clausura 2011, Torneo Apertura 2011 and Torneo Clausura 2012

Fédération Française de Football (FFF): Coupe de la Ligue 2010/2011 (League Cup)

Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA): UEFA Champions League 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, UEFA Europa League 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, and UEFA Super Cup 2010 and 2011.

Also approved, but pending confirmation of the specific competitions, were official competitions of the Federação Baiana, the Federação Paulista and Federação Pernambucana in Brazil.

Finally, FIFA and the Technical Sub-Committee confirmed that goal-line technology will be on the agenda of the next Annual Business Meeting of the IFAB in October 2010.

A Special Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, was held at the Home of FIFA in Zurich to discuss outstanding proposals regarding the Laws of the Game that were carried over from the 124th Annual General Meeting in March.

A presentation was provided on the experiment with additional assistant referees in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League, following the conclusion of 144 league stage matches and 61 knockout phase fixtures. It was agreed that for a period of two years, FIFA’s six Confederations and 208 Member Associations, subject to agreement from the IFAB, will be able to experiment using Additional Assistant Referees.

FIFA will outline the protocol for this non-compulsory trial in a Circular to the six FIFA Confederations and 208 Member Associations shortly. Authorisation will be given by an IFAB Sub-Committee by the end of July 2010.

The Board approved an amendment proposed by the Scottish Football Association concerning the role of the Fourth Official. The amendment extends the scope of the Fourth Official’s duty to “assist the referee to control the match in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The referee however, retains the authority to decide on all points connected with play.”

The Board also approved an amendment in the wording of Law 14 (The Penalty Kick). “Feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted, however feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is now considered an infringement of Law 14 and an act of unsporting behaviour for which the player must be cautioned.“

Finally it was agreed that the IFAB will seek the views of players, coaches and match officials following the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ to discuss Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct, which relates to sending-off offences; the so-called “triple sanction”.

The decisions concerning the Laws of the Game taken today by the International Football Association Board will come into effect on 1 June 2010.

The 125th Annual General Meeting will take place at Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales between 4 and 6 March 2011.