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Thursday September 17, 2009

Brugge test for Donetsk

LONDON: UEFA Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk open the defence of the trophy in the renamed Europa League today, and an even bigger change to the competition will involve the match officials.

For the first time in a European club tournament, the referee will have four assistants instead of two, with two extra officials stationed behind the goal lines to catch incidents or make decisions the referee doesn’t see.

Although it is an experiment, the system of five officials could become the norm if it is successful.

Football’s governing bodies have approved the move to head off repeated calls for referees to get help from video technology. There have been several recent incidents of balls clearly crossing the line but the goals not counting because the three officials couldn’t see. And in one Champions League game last season, the referee sent off the wrong player.

The extra officials will be on duty at each of the 24 matches as the group phase of the competition kicks off across Europe.

While most of Europe’s powerhouse clubs are in the Champions League, the Europa League field includes several teams that have either won or reached the final of European football’s more prestigious competition.

Four-time European Cup champions Ajax Amsterdam welcome Romanian club FC Timisoara and two-time winners Benfica, who have added former Real Madrid players Javier Saviola and Javier Garcia to their line-up, face Belarussian team BATE Borisov in Lisbon.

Of the other former European Cup winners, PSV Eindhoven go to Sparta Prague, Celtic visit Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Hamburg travel to Rapid Vienna and Steaua Bucharest host Moldovan club FC Sheriff.

Shakhtar, who beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in last season’s final to become the last winners of the UEFA Cup, visit Club Brugge in their first group game. Bremen are also back and visit Portuguese team Nacional Madeira with striker Markus Rosenberg back in the squad after a three-month injury absence.

Another German team badly in need of a confidence-boosting lift is Hertha Berlin, who have lost four straight Bundesliga games. Hertha host Latvian club FK Ventspils but will be without Florian Kringe, a new arrival from Borussia Dortmund, who broke a bone in his foot and will be out for eight weeks.

Valencia, one of the favourites to win the title, go to Lille knowing they have not lost in their last six visits to France in European competitions. —AP

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