The 2007/08 UEFA Champions League gets under way today with the draw for the first and second qualifying rounds.

Both draws will be conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA’s head of club competitions.

The first qualifying round draw will feature 28 teams, all of whom are domestic title-holders, and includes the champions of Montenegro, Andorra and San Marino for the first time. The matches will be played over two legs on 17/18 and 24/25 July. The two winners of the ties involving NK Dinamo Zagreb and APOEL FC will be seeded for the second qualifying round draw because of the two clubs’ high individual coefficient.

14 sides will enter the second stage of the draw, ultimately joining the first qualifying round winners in 14 ties. The games will be played over two legs on 31 July/1 August and 7/8 August. The winners will advance to the third qualifying round. The 32 clubs involved will then compete in 16 fixtures for the right to join the 16 automatic qualifiers in the group stage.

Seventy-four clubs will be involved in the draw for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

The clubs have been split into three geographical seeding groups – Southern, Central-East and Northern. Teams from the same country cannot be drawn together.

The 37 winners of these matches, to be played over two legs on 19 July and 2 August, will progress to the second qualifying round where they will be joined by a further 27 sides, including the eleven UEFA Intertoto Cup winners.

This draw will be made in Nyon on 3 August.

Marsaxlokk will be representing Malta in the Champions League while Sliema Wanderers and Hibernians will be in the UEFA Cup draw.

The three Maltese teams are unseeded with a coefficient of 0.555 each.