MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's two remaining representatives in the UEFA Cup found out the identities of their group stage opponents on Tuesday afternoon.
The draw, which took place in Nyon, Switzerland, placed Spartak Moscow in the same group as England's Tottenham Hotspur, Italy's Udinese, Croatia's Dynamo Zagreb, and Holland's NEC Nijmegen.
CSKA Moscow are in the same group as Spain's Deportivo, Holland's Feyenoord, French club Nancy, and Poland's Lech Poznan.
The teams play four games, two at home and two away. The top three sides go into the play-off stages, where they will be joined by the eight third-placed teams from the current Champions League groups.
Spartak start with a bye in the first of the five rounds of games on October 23, while CSKA's week off is the final round of matches on December 17 and 18.
CSKA start with a visit from Deportivo and then travel to Rotterdam to play Feyenoord. Lech Poznan then come to Moscow before CSKA's group matches end in France against Nancy. Spartak host Udinese and NEC Nimegen either side of a tough trip to Zagreb, before finishing in London against Tottenham.
Spartak Moscow recently sold striker Roman Pavlyuchenko to Tottenham Hotspur, but the Russian international has already appeared for Spartak in the Champions League qualifying stages and is ineligible to face his old teammates. Spartak were knocked out of the Champions League by Dynamo Kiev, losing 4-1 home and away in the third qualifying round.
Russian teams have had an excellent record in the UEFA Cup in recent years. CSKA Moscow became the first Russian club to lift a major European trophy when they defeated Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in the final of the 2004/05 competition, and this May Zenit St. Petersburg won the tournament with a 2-0 defeat of Glasgow Rangers in the final.
