2004–05 UEFA Cup


The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was introduced, as was a group phase after the first round. The group stage operated in a single round-robin format consisting of eight groups of five teams, each team plays two games at home and two away and the top three finishers of each group progress to the knock-out round, joining the eight third-placed teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage.
The tournament was won by CSKA Moscow, coming from behind in the final against Sporting CP, in whose home stadium the match was played. It was the first win by a Russian side in any European competition. The match was refereed by Graham Poll.
Valencia were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Steaua București in the Round of 32 after dropping out of the UEFA Champions League Group Stage.

Association team allocation

A total of 145 teams from 51 of 52 UEFA member associations participated in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
  • Associations 1–6 and 16–21 each had three teams qualify.
  • Associations 7–8 each had four teams qualify.
  • Associations 9–15 and 22–52 each had two teams qualify.
  • Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino had only one team that qualified.
Moreover, the following teams also qualified for the competition:

Association ranking

For the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, the associations were allocated places according to their 2003 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1998–99 to 2002–03.
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the UEFA Cup, as noted below:

Distribution

The following was the access list for this season.
RoundTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundTeams transferred from Champions League or Intertoto Cup
First qualifying round

  • 2 domestic league champions from Andorra and San Marino
  • 21 domestic cup winners from associations 29–52
  • 24 domestic league runners-up from associations 25–52
  • 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play ranking
Second qualifying round
  • 17 domestic cup winners from associations 12–28
  • 9 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–24
  • 13 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 9–21
  • 25 winners from first qualifying round
    • First round
    • 11 domestic cup winners from associations 1–11
    • 2 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–8
    • 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 second qualifying round
  • 16 losers from Champions League third qualifying round
  • 3 winners from UEFA Intertoto Cup finals
    • Group stage
    • 40 winners from first round
    Knockout stage
    • 8 group winners from group stage
    • 8 group runners-up from group stage
    • 8 group third-placed teams from group stage
  • 8 group third-placed teams from Champions League group stage
    • Due to the UEFA Cup title holder qualifying for the Champions League via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list were made:
    • The cup winners of association 11 entered the UEFA Cup first round instead of the second qualifying round.
    • The cup winners of association 25 and 26 entered the UEFA Cup second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
    Due to the failure of any club from Kazakhstan to obtain a UEFA licence, the following changes to the access list were made:
    • The cup winners of association 27 and 28 entered the UEFA Cup second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.

    Teams

    The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
    • TH: Title holders
    • CW: Cup winners
    • CR: Cup runners-up
    • LC: League Cup winners
    • Nth: League position
    • PO: End-of-season European competition play-offs
    • IC: Intertoto Cup
    • FP: Fair play
    • CL: Relegated from the Champions League
    • * GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
    • * Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
    ;Notes

    Round and draw dates

    The schedule of the competition was as follows.

    Group stage

    Based on paragraph 4.06 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, tiebreakers, if necessary, are applied in the following order:
    1. Cumulative goal difference in group matches.
    2. Total goals scored in group matches.
    3. Away goals scored in group matches.
    4. Higher number of UEFA coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.