Europa League to Lerkendal?

Norway won the international Fair Play competition and thus is Rosenborg ready for European games.

By: Jørgen Stenseth
Published: 12.05.2009 15:55, edited: 12.05.2009 16:01

SATISFIED: Nils Skutle was happy to receive the message about the European games.

UEFA has announced the final list, which shows that Norway won the International Fair Play competition. As Norway's representative Rosenborg is secured European games this season.

- We're very happy that we will play in Europe this year also, says Nils Skutle to RBK.no.

Rosenborg must go through four qualifying rounds in order to reach the group games in the new European League. First round qualifiers are played 2nd and 9th of July. Rosenborg's opponent will be announced June 22nd. Rosenborg will be seeded through all of the four qualifying rounds if winning the previous rounds.

- We are obviously excited to find out who our opponents will be. There are both sporting and financial reasons for that. We should be able to beat our opponents, but we hope to avoid travelling too far away. The costs rapidly increase when we have to travel far and it is not ideal for the players to go on a long journey when there are two games each week, Skutle explains.

The first two rounds will be drawn on June 22nd in Geneva. This means that we will already then know who we might face if we make it to the second qualifying round. Who our opponents might be you can check on this page which is continuously updated.

To achieve the great goal which is the group stage of the Europa League, Rosenborg will have to play eight games. (You can read more about the Europa league in UEFA's own info page here). There is no doubt that it is more attractive to participate in the Europa League than in it's predecessor the UEFA Cup.

- It is a tournament that is similar in the Champions League format with three games at both home and away in the group stages. It is a tournament which is very interesting to participate in, both sporting and economic, says Skutle.

If Rosenborg should go all the way it will be a busy period for the team with two games each week all through the autumn. But that does not worry Skutle.

- I am not worried about that. We have a large squad and should be able to cope with playing several games each week, says Skutle.

Match Dates:
1. round qualifiers: July 2nd and 9th
2. round qualifiers: July 16th and 23rd
3. round qualifiers: July 30th and August 6th
4. round qualifiers: August 20th and 27th

Draw dates:
1. and 2. round qualifiers: June 22nd
3. round qualifiers: July 17th
4. round qualifiers: August 7th

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