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The procedure for the 2008/09 UEFA Regions' Cup draw has been unveiled
with 41 national representatives to compete over three rounds in
Europe's top amateur tournament.
Basic
set-up
The draw in Nyon in 26 February at 12.30CET will decide the make up of
three preliminary round groups and eight subsequent intermediary round
sections. The winners in each of the intermediary mini-tournaments earn
a place in the final tournament, to be hosted by one of the eight
qualifying nations in June 2009. In principle, the hosts should be
selected by the end of 2008.
Preliminary round
The three preliminary round groups will be contested between 1 August
and 20 September 2008. San Marino, Israel and Lithuania have all
volunteered to host a mini-tournament, with teams representing the Czech
Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Malta,
Sweden, Turkey and Wales being drawn to face them. The winners of each
group will earn a place in the intermediary round.
Qualifying places
The winners of preliminary round Groups 1 and 2 – hosted by San Marino
and Israel – will take their place in the Central/West pot for the
intermediary round while the Group 3 winners will go into the draw for
the Central/East section. Four four-team mini-tournaments will take
place in each geographical region with the winners of each going through
to the finals.
Remaining
slots
In the Central/West section, Germany, Italy, Croatia and France have
volunteered to host Groups 1 to 4 respectively, with two preliminary
round winners, England, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and
Belgium being drawn to fill the remaining 12 slots in the four sections.
Host
nations
In the Central/East section, Russia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia will
host Groups 5 to 8, with the remaining contenders coming from
preliminary round Group 3, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Finland, reigning
champions Poland, Greece, Moldova, Ukraine, 2007 hosts Bulgaria,
Azerbaijan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Mini-tournaments with no preliminary
round teams involved will take place between 1 August and 31 December
2008, with the remaining sections being played between 1 October 2008
and 30 April 2009. |