The draw for the third preliminary round of the Champions League (that's the one in which Ajax will enter the competition) will take place on July 29th in Nyon, Switzerland.

Ajax will be seeded for that draw (this is 100% certain already), which means that we'll be paired with either a team that came through the 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds or a non-seeded team that entered in the 3rd. These teams are: Real Betis (Spa), FC Basel (Swi), Wisla Krakow (Pol), Udinese (Ita), Everton (Eng), Dynamo Kiev or Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr). Those are quite tough, I must say... Let's have a team from the earlier preliminary rounds.

Right then, let's just assume that we will make it to the actual Champions League...

In spite of Ajax's poor performances in the CL in recent seasons our coefficient for the UEFA ranking actually got a little bit higher this season. It is based on European achievements in the past five seasons and Ajax's results in 2004-2005 were better than in the season that 'dropped off at the front': that was 1999-2000, an extremely poor year in Europe for Ajax.

It is, therefore, almost certain that Ajax will once again be in pot 3 for the draw, if we make it through the qualifiers. If all the seeded sides advance from the second peliminary round, Ajax will be the second team in pot 3. Which means that if it only takes two major surprises in the 2nd preliminary round for Ajax to move to pot 2. For that to happen, two out of the following clubs must be eliminated in the 2nd qualifying round by their non-seeded opponent: Manchester United (Eng), Internazionale (Ita), Panathinaikos (Gre), Celtic (Sco), Villarreal CF (Spa), Sporting Lisbon (Por), AS Monaco (Fra).

If there are no major upsets and Ajax end up in pot 3 (which is the most likely option) pots 1 and 2 will look like this:

Pot 1
Real Madrid
AC Milan
FC Barcelona
Manchester United
Internazionale
Bayern München
Arsenal
FC Porto

Pot 2
Juventus
PSV
Olympique Lyon
Panathinaikos
Chelsea
Celtic
Villarreal
Sporting Lisbon

But let's qualify first.... Draw on July 29th. Games in the 3rd qualifyinf round on 9/10 August and 23/24 August.

K.

my choice (just in case we make it) is :
pot 1 : unreal Mad, a bunch of aging former glories soon to be retired
pot 2 : lyon, selfish choice just because I could attend the game

What the hell are two Portuguese clubs doing there

Let me guess.... Maybe the're here because they deserve it as they've just done three European finals in a row (winning two on the way).

I thought only one would make it in Europe?

Before weren't two Dutch clubs able to be in the qualifying stage of the CL?

Firstly Porto finished second in the league so they have to qualify through the preliminary rounds, secondly, Sporting Lisbon cannot be in the champions league the finish 3rd in their league and finished runners up in the Uefa cup final ( only the winners (CSKA Moscow) of the uefa cup qualify for the champions league. Finally my ideal choice for our group would be:
Chelsea (we can upset these lot I tell you)
Inter (totally over-rated and I think our luck will change against the N**i's)
Rangers ( they are crap so we can get maximum points out of them :)
Ayman the NO. 1 Ajacoid in London

Portugal is ahead of us in the UEFA country ranking so they have three spots in the CL. Two direct entries (Benfica, Porto) and one team in the 3rd qualifying round (Sporting).

Winning the UEFA cup does NOT get you into the CL. CSKA plays UEFA cup again next year.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/qual2005.html

Point One - I'm not so sure, they one the league by a mile

Point Two - I'm definately not so sure, though there's not that much competition numbers wise :D

Hello! I am a new member from Greece and the only team I am supporting since 1995 is Ajax. Now qualifying for the CL will be tough. But if we get through hope we get against a Greek team in our group even though I believe they seek European success next year.

Good luck and I hope Charisteas performs better than he did last year or he should go.

excellent choice you made by supporting ajax, Souras.. excellent choice indeed :worshippy:

Welcome, but Charisteas should go

let's just hope he'll score 30 then next season, Rosenberg 35, Babel also 35, and then we have a reason to let him go, because he doesn't score as much as his team mates :D

If all the seeded teams beat their non-seeded opponents in the first two qualifying rounds, Ajax's opponent in the third qualifying round will be one out of the following sixteen sides:

Slavia Prague
Real Betis Sevilla
FC Basel
Wisla Kraków
Partizan Belgrade
Udinese
Shakhtar Donetsk
Maccabi Haifa
Everton FC
Steaua Bucharest
Brøndby IF
Rapid Vienna
CSKA Sofia
DVSC Debrecen
Trabzonspor
Vålerengen IF

K.

Well at first sight and not knowing much about most of the teams i´d say we got an easy way through the group stage.

Teams to avoid:

Real Betis:(Denilson,Asuncao,Joaquin) good team that won the Copa del Rey in Spain.Its their first crack at this level(motivation)

Udinese:good season in italy, we all know that ajax have trouble against italian oponents,first chance to go to he champions league plus one of the best coaches in current football: Serse Cosmi(motivation).

Shacktar Donestk: has been a regular in tha past edition´s of the Champions League.Dangerous, very dangerous team especialy at home.

Everton FC: some might disagree but this team almost left the current champ out off the competitión, there are better opcions then this one. Goodison Park will be out off conntrol...

Teams to feel happy about:

CSKA Sofia: not even near the other CSKA team (Moscow), Bulgarian teams should go directly to the Uefa cup. How many years have passed since a Bulgarian team made it too the group stage ??

DVSC Debrecen: Same as above, Hungary ???????? please.

Valerengen IF : Norwegean teams are known to be tough, we ajax fans know that as a fact after we faces Rosenborg a couple off years ago, BUT Norway always has Rosenborg to represent them, other than that nothing, the chances of having two teams from the freezing country: slim and none.

Wisla Krackovia: polish outfits have not been very lucky in this competition, the last team i remembered that made it to the group stage rounds was Legia Warzovia I believe in the 95 or 96. Don´t think there gonna change that trend now.

the rest off the teams are at worst accsesible teams. I would like Brondby IF good entertaining football, Laudrup re-visiting Ajax hmmm sounds nice dont think we would have much problems beating them( then on second thought i said the same against Copenhagen and look what hapened).

Come on Debrecen !!!!!!!

I just had a look at all of the teams competing in both qualifying and the set 16 for the 05-06 CL. Of those, I think really only 10 have a realistic chance based on what they have at this point, and keep in mind that the transfer season is not over yet.

The 10 are (in no apparent order):

AFC Ajax (yes, personal bias)
Barca
Chelsea
AC Milan
Schalke
Lyon
Porto
Liverpool
Man U
Juve

You could also make a case for Inter and Bayern I guess. I hope that Benefica go down in flames though, it would look good on Koeman. It would serve him right after he destroyed our team!

no real madrid? I know they've underperformed for a few years now, but to write them off completely at the beginning of campaign? Surely if you include porto and schalke you must include real madrid.

Bayern will have one of the strongest sides in Europe this season.

I hear you on that one (RM) but after saying that year after year in recent history, I have given ujp on them until they become a "team" again instead of a bunch of Prima Donnas.

One more I might add is Monaco. Apparently Saha might be going there on loan and if they kept Saviola as well for another year, look out! They have also been signing a few players and are apparently interested in Andy van Der Meyde as well. They are stocking up for a good run in the Champions League and may win the French League because Lyon are going to find it hard to keep some of their players over the summer.

Okay, time to take a look at the third qualifying round...

The first preliminary round has been played, so the weakest sides have been eliminated. These are the pairings for the second preliminary round:

Famagusta (Cyprus) - Trabzonspor (Turkey)
F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg) - Rapid Vienna (Austria)
Vålerenga (Norway) - Haka Valkeakoski (Finland)
Shelbourne (Ireland) - Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
FBK Kaunus (Lithuania) - Liverpool FC (England)
SK Tirana (Albania) - CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia) - Celtic FC (Scotland)
Dinamo Tblisi (Georgia) - Brøndby IF (Denmark)
RSC Anderlecht (Belgium) Neftsji Baku (Azerbaidzjan)
FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia) - Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)
FK Partizan Belgrade (Serbia & Montenegro) - FC Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)
Debreceni VSC (Hungary) - Hajduk Split (Croatia)
Malmö FF (Sweden) - Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Dinamo Kiev (Ukraine) - FC Thun (Switzerland)

The first legs will be played this week on 26 or 27 July. So, mind you: on the day of the draw for the third preliminary round (in which Ajax will enter the competition) the second legs are yet to be played.

The teams that qualified for the third preliminary round directly are:

Villarreal CF (Spain)
Real Betis Balompié (Spain)
Manchester United (England)
Everton FC (England)
Internazionale (Italy)
Udinese Calcio (Italy)
SV Werder Bremen (Germany)
AS Monaco (France)
Sporting Portugal (Portugal)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
AFC Ajax (The Netherlands)
Slavija Prague (Czech Rep.)
Rangers FC (Scotland)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland)
Shaktar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Rosenborg BK (Norway)
Wisla Krakow (Poland)

A few of the sides that qualified for the third round directly are actually non-seeded (Everton and Udinese, for example), but the chance is bigger that we will get one of the winners from the second round. Possibly Lokomotiv Moscow, Anderlecht, Trabzonspor or Steaua Bucharest, so let's not celebrate just yet, I would say...

K.

I'm hoping Haka Valkeakoski would defeat Vålerenga (which I think they won't) and be drawn against Ajax. Then I'd be going the the away game (for you dutchies) for sure.

If that ain't happening I'm holding my thumbs for a Ajax-Malmö FF. That would be a nice one as well.

I think we should avoid Russia or Ukraine. Those are tough away games. And of course Celtic, Liverpool and Partizan Belgrade are no easy games either.

If they get through against Partizan Belgade (which they probably won't) FC Sheriff Tiraspol from Moldova would be "interesting". I saw a programme about them on TV. They're from a breakaway part of Moldova which doesn't officially exist and are owned (and named after) the Sherrif Corporation which apparently owns most of the country. They do have a really good stadium though but I don't think I'll be going there if we do get them :blush:

Yeah, Holland played Moldova there a while ago (and almost f*cked it up). It's brand-new, ultra modern and very pretty, but no-one from the area can afford to go there... Very corrupt country. Pretty dangerous, too.

K.

Yes, that was the really wierd thing....it's a breakaway region of the country...doesn't officially exist....technically at war with the state of Moldova and yet the national team (from the official part of the country) plays it's games there as it's by far the best stadium around. (Is it time for an "Official Political Geeks" thread yet??? :D ;)

Sorry but have to disagree with you there. Was in Moldova last year to watch Scotland play. The game was played in Chisnau, the capital as were Moldova's WC qualifiers against Italy and Norway round about the same time. The reason being that the Moldovan government could not guarantee the safety of anybody going to Tirasapol. Basically they have a brand new stadium paid for by very dubious money, the best in the country by far but which is not now being used for Internationals.

Moldova is a very poor country it has to be said and it is definitely like taking a trip back into Communist times with very heavy handed policing. Plus points are the alcohol is very cheap and of excellent quality, esp the wine and the vodka, plus the woman are absolutely stunning.

Draw is this Friday, 29 July, and it starts at noon. Follow it real-time via UEFA.com!

K.