English clubs face tough Intertoto ties

Former European Cup winners Aston Villa face a tough task to qualify for this season’s UEFA Cup following today’s Intertoto Cup semi-final and final draw.

The Premiership club, favourites to win a two-legged third-round tie against Swiss side FC Zurich beforehand, would meet Lille in the semi-finals if the French side overcome Romania’s Gloria Bistrita.

Victory for Graham Taylor’s side against Gallic opposition would then pit them against either German Bundesliga club Stuttgart, Perugia of Italy, Bulgarian minnows Marek Dupnitsa or Slaven Belupo of Croatia - who they played last year - in a final.

Fulham can earn themselves a semi-final spot if they can overcome Aegaleo from Greece in round three.

There they would meet the victor of the tie between FC Synot of the Czech Republic or Sochaux of France.

Jean Tigana’s men face arguably tougher final opponents than Villa, with Serie A’s Bologna, BATE Borisov of Belarus, FC Teplice from the Czech Republic and German giants Kaiserslautern lined up to meet them at the last hurdle.

In the final part of the draw, the winner of the heavyweight third-round tie between Italy’s Torino and Villarreal of the Spanish Primera Liga will meet Dutch side NAC Breda or Troyes of France in the semi-finals.

The winner would then meet Primera Liga outfit Malaga, Gent of Belgium, Russia’s Krylya Sovetov Samara or Willem II, also of the Dutch Eredivisie.

Third-round ties are scheduled to begin for this weekend, with the second legs to follow a week later.

The opening matches of the semi-finals are scheduled to take place on Wednesday July 31, with the return matches a week later.

The first legs of the three finals will be played on August 13, with the second-leg games on August 27.