Zenit St Petersburg have been drawn against Pacos de Ferreira of Portugal in the Champions League Playoff draw.
Zenit were fortunate enough to avoid European powerhouses in the non-champions section of the draw as they escaped ties against Lyon, Schalke, Arsenal, Milan, PSV Eindhoven and Fenerbahce.
Hulk’s Zenit St Petersburg have been drawn against Pacos de Ferreira in the Champions League Playoff Round (photo courtesy of en.fc-zenit.ru)
The first leg will be held on either August 21st or 22nd, where Zenit will visit the Estádio do Dragão. The return leg will be either August 27th or 28th at Petrovsky Stadium.
Pacos have yet to play any qualifying round matches as they went straight to the playoff round due to their third place finish last season in the Portuguese Primeira League last season. Zenit beat Nordsjaelland 6-0 on aggregate in the last round.
The winner of the tie will enter the 2013-2014 main Champions League draw.
In the Europa League Playoff qualifying draw, Kuban Krasnodar are involved in the toughest tie of the round as they have been drawn against Feyenoord of the Netherlands.
Feyenoord went straight to the playoff round after their third place finish in last seasons Eredivisie. Kuban beat Scotland’s Motherwell 3-0 on aggregate in the previous round.
Kuban Krasnodar and Ivelin Popov will play Feyenoord in the Europa League Playoff Qualifying Round (image: zimbio.com)
The other two Russian sides got considerably easier ties. Spartak Moscow were drawn against St. Gallen of Switzerland, while Rubin Kazan will play Molde of Norway.
Spartak and Rubin will be away for the first leg, while Kuban will be at home. The first leg will be played on August 22nd and the return leg will be on August 29th.
The winner of these ties will enter the 2013-2014 Europa League main draw.
Complete Champions League Playoff Round draw:
Play-off draw - champions route
Dinamo Zagreb v Austria Vienna
Ludogorets Razgrad v Basel
Viktoria Plzen v Maribor
Shakhter Karagandy v Celtic
Steaua Bucharest v Legia Warsaw
Play-off draw - non-champions route
Lyon v Real Sociedad
Schalke v Metalist Kharkiv
Pacos de Ferreira v Zenit St Petersburg
PSV Eindhoven v Milan
Fenerbahce v Arsenal
Complete Europa League Playoff Round draw:
Kuban Krasnodar v Feyenoord
Zulte Waregem v Apoel Nicosia
Rapid Vienna v Dila Gori
Pandurii Targu-Jiu v Braga
Tromso v Besiktas
Apollon Limassol v Nice
Aktobe v Dynamo Kiev
Swansea v Petrolul Ploiesti
Atromitos v AZ
FH Hafnarfjordur v Genk
IF Elfsborg v FC Nordsjaelland
Slask Wroclaw v Sevilla
SV Red Bull Salzburg v VMFD Zalgiris
FK Karabakh v Eintracht Frankfurt
Minsk v Standard Liege
Jablonec v Real Betis
Rijeka v VfB Stuttgart
Chornomorets v Skenderbeu
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v PAOK Salonika
St Gallen v Spartak Moscow
Molde v Rubin Kazan
Vojvodina v FC Sheriff
Trabzonspor v FK Kukesi
Esbjerg v Saint Etienne
Grasshoppers v Fiorentina
Maccabi Haifa v FC Astra Giurgiu
Udinese v Slovan Liberec
Dinamo Tbilisi v Tottenham Hotspur
Estoril Praia v FC Pasching
Nomme Kalju v Dnipro
Partizan Belgrade v FC Thun
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