2006–07 UEFA Cup


The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match finished 2–2 after extra time. Sevilla became the first side to win the competition two years in a row since Real Madrid achieved this feat in 1985 and 1986.
Walter Pandiani of Espanyol was the top goalscorer of this UEFA Cup edition with 11 goals scored.

Association team allocation

A total of 155 teams from 52 UEFA associations participated in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup. Associations were allocated places according to their 2005 UEFA league coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2000–01 to 2004–05.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup:
;Notes
The title holder would have been given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through domestic performance; however, this additional entry was not necessary as Sevilla, winners of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, qualified for the UEFA Cup through domestic performance. This means that the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage:
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round

  • 2 domestic league champions from associations 51 and 52
  • 31 domestic league runners-up from associations 19–50
  • 4 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 18–21
  • 30 domestic cup winning teams from associations 21–50
  • 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play rankings
Second qualifying round
  • 6 domestic cup winners from associations 15–20
  • 3 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–18
  • 9 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 9–17
  • 11 Intertoto Cup winners
  • 35 winners from the first qualifying round
    • First round
    • 14 domestic cup winners from associations 1–14
    • 2 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7 and 8
    • 5 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 4–8
    • 8 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–8
    • 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3
  • 32 winners from the second qualifying round
    		• 16 losers from 2006–07 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
    Group stage

    • 40 winners from the play-off round
    Round 3
    • 8 group winners from the group stage
    • 8 group runners-up from the group stage
    • 8 third-placed teams from the group stage
  • 8 third-placed teams from the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League group stage

    • Teams

    The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
    ;Notes

    Early issues

    Italian match-fixing scandal

    The 2006 Serie A scandal resulted in major changes to the clubs that originally qualified in Italy. Originally, Roma took the cup winners' place as losing finalists in the 2006 Coppa Italia, as the winners, Internazionale finished in the top four in the league and qualified for the Champions League. The other two UEFA Cup places initially went to Lazio and Chievo.
    Lazio, however, as well as the remaining three Champions League qualifiers, were formally indicted on 22 June on charges relating to the scandal.
    On 14 July, all four of the indicated clubs were penalised by an Italian court and the Italian Football Federation. Results of the FIGC appeal were announced on 25 July. The impact on the UEFA Cup was:
    FIFA suspended the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competitions on 3 July 2006 because of "political interference in sport" after the Greek government passed a law, giving it control of the sports authorities in Greece. After the law was amended to address FIFA's objections, FIFA reinstated the HFF on 12 July. The Greek government in response, decided to withdraw all of its funding to the Hellenic Football Federation.

    Qualifying rounds

    First qualifying round

    These matches were held on 13 July and 27 July 2006.
    !colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
    !colspan="5"|Central-East region
    !colspan="5"|Northern region

    Second qualifying round

    These matches were held on 8 and 10 August and 24 August 2006.
    !colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
    !colspan="5"|Central-East region
    !colspan="5"|Northern region

    First round

    The matches were held on 14 September and 28 September 2006.
    TwoLegResult|Vitória Setúbal|POR|0–3|Heerenveen|NED|0–3|0–0TwoLegResult|Marseille|FRA|3–4|Mladá Boleslav|CZE|1–0|2–4TwoLegResult|Åtvidaberg|SWE|0–8|Grasshoppers|SUI|0–3|0–5TwoLegResult|Rapid București|ROU|3–1|Nacional|POR|1–0|2–1

    Group stage

    The top three teams of each group qualified for the next round. Based on paragraph 4.06 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of all the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
    1. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
    2. higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
    3. higher number of goals scored away in all group matches played;
    4. higher number of wins;
    5. higher number of away wins;
    6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

      Group A

    Group B

    Group C

    Group D

    Group E

    Group F

    Group G

    Group H

    Knockout stage

    Bracket

    Round of 32

    The first legs were held on 14 February and 15 February 2007, while the second legs were held on 22 February 2007.

    Round of 16

    The first legs were held on 8 March 2007, while the second legs were held on 14 and 15 March 2007.

    Quarter-finals

    The draw for the final stages, included quarter-finals and semi-finals, was held on 16 March 2007 in Glasgow, Scotland. The quarter-final matches were played on 5 April and 12 April 2007.

    Semi-finals

    The semi-final matches were played on 26 April and 3 May 2007.

    Final

    Top goalscorers