WANDERERS will be in esteemed company when the first round of the UEFA Cup gets under way.

The 80 clubs competing in the first leg include past winners, Bayer Leverkusen and Galatasaray, and two former Champions League winners, Feyenoord and Red Star Belgrade.

AS Roma, Monaco and Marseille also feature among the top ranked teams competing for a place in the group stages.

Middlesbrough, who qualified through their Premiership placing last season, and Everton, who were one of 16 teams beaten in the third qualifying round of this season's Champions League are also launching their UEFA Cup challenge. Boro kick off at home to the Greek club, Xanthi, with Everton facing a tough challenge, away to Dinamo Bucharest.

Forty clubs will advance to the group stage, which will comprise eight groups of five teams with each team playing two matches at home and two away - all against different opponents. The winners, runners-up and third-placed teams of each group will then advance to the knockout phase, at which point they will be joined by the eight clubs, which finish third in each of the groups in the Champions League group stage.

From that point, 32 clubs embark on a knockout competition on a two-leg basis until the final, which will be decided by a single match at the Phillips Stadium in Eindhoven, Holland on May 10.

Key dates: First round, 2nd leg: September 29. Group stage: Matchday 1 October 20; Matchday 2 November 3; Matchday 3 November 14; Matchday 4 November 30 & December 1; Matchday 5 December 14 & 15. Round of 32: February 15 & 23. Round of 16: March 9 & 16. Quarter-finals: March 30 & April 6. Semi-finals: April 20 & 27. Final: May 10.