Fenerbahce gets Salzburg as Champions League draw announced
The first legs will be played on July 30 and 31, with return matches on Aug. 6 and 7. Winners advance to a playoff round, which will decide the final 10 places in the 32-team group stage.
Fenerbahce will play Salzburg in the third qualifying round of the Champions League after getting temporarily reprieved from a ban for match-fixing.
The Turkish league runner-up was excluded by UEFA, but reached agreement Thursday at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to play before its appeal is judged next month.
In some of the other 15 pairings drawn Friday, Zenit St. Petersburg will play Nordsjaelland, 1988 winner PSV Eindhoven faces Champions League debutant Zulte Waregem of Belgium, and Metalist Kharkiv will travel to play PAOK Thessaloniki of Greece.
The first legs will be played on July 30 and 31, with return matches on Aug. 6 and 7.
Winners advance to a playoff round, which will decide the final 10 places in the 32-team group stage.
Draw Friday for the third qualifying round of the Champions League:
(First leg matches July 30-31; second leg Aug. 6-7)
League Route-
Nordsjaelland (Denmark) vs. Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
Salzburg (Austria) vs. x-Fenerbahce (Turkey)
PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece) vs. Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) vs. Zulte Waregem (Belgium)
Lyon (France) vs. Grasshoppers (Switzerland)
Champions Route-
FC Basel (Switzerland) vs. Gyor (Hungary) or Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Sligo Rovers (Ireland) or Molde (Norway) vs. The New Saints (Wales) or Legia Warsaw (Poland)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) or Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) vs. Shirak (Armenia) or Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) or EB/Streymur (Faeroe Islands) vs. Steaua Bucharest (Romania) or Vardar (Macedonia)
APOEL (Cyprus) vs. Birkirkara (Malta) or Maribor (Slovenia)
Celtic (Scotland) or Cliftonville (Northern Ireland) vs. Elfsborg (Sweden) or Daugava Daugavpils (Latvia)
BATE Borisov (Belarus) or Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan) vs. Neftchi Baku (Azerbaijan) or Skenderbeu Korce (Albania)
Austria Vienna (Austria) vs. Ekranas (Lithuania) or FH Hafnarfjordur (Iceland)
HJK Helsinki (Finland) or Nomme Kalju (Estonia) vs. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) or Zeljeznicar (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Fola Esch (Luxembourg) or Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) or Sutjeska Niksic (Montenegro)