UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006

The UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006 was the first after a major change of the competition format. There were only three rounds instead of five, and eleven teams qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup (instead of three teams qualifying for the first round proper). Also, for the first time in the modern history of the competition, [The Intertoto Cup began in 1961, and held a formal final match until 1967, but after this, it did not have a single winner until 2006. It did not come under official UEFA sponsorship until 1995, which is a reasonable date for setting the start of the competition's modern history.] a single overall winner was determined, with that honour going to the final-round Intertoto winner that advanced furthest in the UEFA Cup. This honour went to Newcastle United.

First round (June 17th-18th & 24th-25th)

!colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
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-!colspan="5"|Central-East region
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-!colspan="5"|Northern region
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econd round (July 1st-2nd & 8th-9th)

!colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
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-!colspan="5"|Central-East region
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-!colspan="5"|Northern region
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¹FK Zeta qualified for this season's UEFA competitions as member of the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro during the 2005/06 season but was at the time of this match already a member of the Football Association of Montenegro. [ [http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/Kind=4194304/newsId=433131.html UEFA Magazine - Farewell to Yugoslavia] , by Aleksandar Bošković] ²played at FK Partizan's ground in Belgrade, Serbia, because FK Zeta's ground in Golubovci doesn't meet UEFA standards ³played in Herzliya because Maccabi Petah Tikva's ground in Petah Tikva is undergoing renovations

Third round (July 15th & 22nd)

Eleven winning teams qualify for the second qualifying round of UEFA Cup 2006-07

!colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
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-!colspan="5"|Central-East region
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-!colspan="5"|Northern region
-^played on July 16th

¹After consultations with UEFA, Italian qualifier Palermo was withdrawn by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) on June 6, 2006. Due to the ongoing match-fixing scandal in Italy, the FIGC could not officially confirm the 2005-06 Serie A standings in time for Palermo to compete in the Intertoto Cup and therefore French club Auxerre replaced Palermo, according to UEFA regulations governing the Intertoto Cup.

Overall

Of the 2006 cup winners,
*All but Twente, Ried and Maribor won their subsequent qualifying round matches in the UEFA Cup.
*Newcastle United, Auxerre, Grasshoppers, and Odense (who defeated fellow Cup winners Hertha Berlin) advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Cup.
*Newcastle United secured a place in the UEFA Cup Round of 32 and were the last remaining team from the Intertoto Cup - rendering them the overall winner. They then went onto qualify for the last 16. Captain Scott Parker lifted the trophy at St James Park before their tie with AZ.

ee also

*UEFA Champions League 2006-07
*UEFA Cup 2006-07

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/intertotocup/history/season=2006/intro.html Official UEFA site]
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/uefa-cup-regions.html Uefa Regions]
* [http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19069.pdf UI cup official rules & regulations]