Livorno
Livorno formed in 1915 have spent most of their existence outside of Italy's top division. They were promoted to Serie A in 2004 after a 55 year absence. The closest they have come to lifting Italy's top domestic prize was in the 1942-43 season when they were pipped to the title by Torino.
Their stadium – Stadio Armando Picchi has an 18,150 capacity (which is slightly lower for Euro games). It was originally named after Mussolini's daughter Edda. However after World War 2 the name was dropped and it became commonly known as the Yankee Stadium – due to American troops stationed in the area using it for American football games. The stadium was given its current name in 2000 and is named in honour of an ex-player and coach of the club.
For any fans traveling, it is situated in the Ardenza district, not far from the town centre and can be easily reached on foot by walking along a sea-front path.
Despite an excellent first half to last season under new Italy coach Roberto Donadoni – they suffered a dramatic downturn in form, after he resigned due to criticism from club president Aldo Spinelli – eventually only managing to qualify for Europe after the expulsion from European competition of various other teams due to the alleged ‘match-fixing' scandal that rocked Serie A.
Livorno's main fan group is the BAL (Brigate Autonome Livornesi) – many of its members are on the far left of the political spectrum and its a common sight to see them displaying flags of Che Guevara, the ex-USSR, Palestine and Cuba within the ground.
Those going to the game should take note – the hardcore who follow Livorno are the real deal. When in Livorno, do not split up into small groups, stick with the main crowd
There's not a lot to see or do in Livorno - our advice for those with time to kill is to stay in or visit nearby Pisa or head further afield to Florence for your sight-seeing.
Livorno are currently 8th in Serie A – with a won 2, drawn 2 and lost 1 record after 5 games – They have a mean defence and have only conceded 4 goals this season – and recently held the superstars of AC Milan to a 0-0 draw. Despite having Cristiano Lucarelli, Serie A's top scorer in 2004-2005, they are struggling to score this time around and have only managed 4 goals from the first five matches.
Players to look out for are the aforementioned Cristiano Lucarelli, the excellent ex-Bayern Munich and Roma defender Sammy Kuffour and their goalkeeper Marco Amelia who is considered one of the finest young keepers in Italy.
Maccabi Haifa
Liga ha'Al champions Maccabi Haifa will visit Ibrox on matchday two. The Israeli side comes to Scotland on the back of a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Liverpool in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the European Cup. While they were unspectacular over the two legs, they certainly proved they are no mugs.
Nicknamed The Green Monkeys - they are perhaps more famous for their former players rather than their current crop, having exported talents such as Eyal Berkovic (no laughing at the back), Idan Tal, Haim Revivo, Yakubu and Ronny Rosenthal to name but a few.
Key players include Nir Davidovitch, Gustavo Bocolli and Roberto Colautti. Davidovitch is another loyal goalkeeper in the same mould as the Auxerre stopper Cool, having played for Maccabi the whole of his career. He earned the nickname "The Octopus" when he managed a clean sheet against Rafa Benitez's Valencia at the Mestalla. Goal scoring midfielder Bocolli is one of three Brazilians at the club and will look to mystify the home side with his box of tricks, that resulted in him being the most fouled player in Liga ha'Al last year. Ultimately the key man will be Argentine-Israeli striker Roberto Colautti, technically gifted and an excellent one-on-one finisher, as his 32 goals in 58 appearances testify. Unfortunately he's also very strong in the air which could pose us all kinds of problems, if we don't rectify our defensive problems out first.
Other players who could cause problems are on-loan West Ham player Yaniv Katan, who is looking to regain the form that won him his move to England in the first place - and the other Brazilian midfielder on their books Xavier Dircau.
Maccabi Haifa have a decent record in Europe the past few years and unlike Rangers can boast of a victory over Manchester United - we'll need to be on our toes and learn to take our chances to ensure three points in this tie.
Auxerre
On Matchday 4 Rangers face a trip to the Stade l'Abbé-Deschamps for their third meeting with AJ Auxerre in 10 years. In the 96/97 Champions League campaign, club legend Guy Roux guided his side to victories in both Glasgow and Auxerre. More recently he brought his side to Ibrox in the 2004 for the UEFA Cup group stages and watched on, as a Bonaventure Kalou brace eliminated Rangers from the competition.
Roux finally left the managerial hot seat last year and was succeeded by Jacques Santini, however it was an unsuccessful stint that resulted in the former France and Spurs manager being sacked after just one season. New coach Jean Fernandez took the reigns in the summer, having previously been in charge of FC Metz and Olympique Marseille. No doubt he'll be looking for follow in Roux's footsteps and the ideal start would be qualification from Group A.
The only survivor of all three previous clashes with Rangers is loyal goalkeeper Fabian Cool. With the exception of a short spell at Gueugnon in 1993, Cool has spent his whole career with AJA. Having been deputy to former Rangers Lionel Charbonnier in 96/97 he has since made the number 1 jersey his own.
No player immediately stands out from the AJA defensive line up and having conceded 11 goals in 7 games already this season, there is a suggestion this may be the area Le Guen will look to exploit. They have struggled to replace the defensive pairing of Jean-Alain Boumsong (don't laugh) and Phillipe Mexés since their departures to Rangers and Roma respectively.
Auxerre look strongest in the midfield area with the trio of Thomas Kahlenberg, Benoît Pedretti & Benoït Cheyrou running proceedings. Kahlenberg was signed from Danish club Brøndby IF in the summer of 2005 for a fee of £2.5m and can play as a central or left sided attacking midfielder. Benoït Cheyrou, not to be mistaken with his £4.5m Liverpool flop of a brother Bruno now at Rennes, is another of Auxerre's danger men. Providing a mixture of flair and bite in the centre of midfield that will keep Ferguson and hopefully Clément on their toes. Pedretti however is perhaps the pick of the bunch, he's responsible for the defensive midfield duties and provides excellent cover for Cheyrou and Kahlenberg to probe forward. Benoît feels he was never given a chance at Lyon under Houllier due to the number of midfielders at the club and will be out to prove his point this season with AJA.
Since being named top goal scorer in the Belgian league for season 03/04, Luigi Pieroni has failed to shine in Auxerre. He managed 28 goals in 30 outings for Excelsior Mouscron yet in double the amount of appearances for Auxerre he has only managed 18 goals. That's not to suggest he won't be a danger against the vulnerable partnership of Svensson and Rodriguez. Another we need to keep an eye on - is young Romanian international Daniel Niculae, signed from Rapid Bucharest in the summer past for €3.3m. He scored a cracker from the edge of the box to clinch the victory over Nantes at the weekend which emphasised his ability to find the back of the net.
While Auxerre clearly have the upper hand in respect to match form, there's a particularly interesting stat we might want to look upon for hope - In the six Ligue 1 matches played between Lyon and Auxerre when Le Guen was in charge of the former - he came out on top five times with the other match ending in a draw. It won't be easy, but could we really have hand picked a better top seed?
Partizan Belgrade
Rangers final group opponents FK Partizan.
The club was founded in 1945 by members of The Yugoslav Army – in fact their stadium now know as Stadion Partizana, was originally called ‘The Stadium of The Yugoslav People's Army'.
Partizan have won 19 championships – including a very respectable 11 in the old days of the unified Yugoslav Championship – where as well as hated city rivals ‘Red Star', they had the top Croatian teams to do battle with.
Many Rangers fans will fondly remember their two matches against Septic in 1989 – Partizan won the first leg 2-1 and despite losing the second 5-4 – they progressed to the next round due to an away goal scored in the last minute!
Partizan's fans are nicknamed ‘Grobari' (Gravediggers) – due to their ‘black and white' shirts being similar to uniforms once worn by graveyard workers in Belgrade. They have 3 main Ultra groups: ‘Juzni Front', ‘Grobari 1970' and ‘Grobari Beograd' – members of all 3 are likely to travel to Ibrox.
Partizan have overcome 2 tricky ties to reach the group stages ; against Maribor of Slovenia who they defeated 3-2 on aggregate and then FC Groningen of Holland who they beat 4-3 on aggregate.
Partizan are currently struggling in sixth place in the Serbian Championship – and don't have many household names – however look out for forward Aco Stojkov and midfielder Bojan Zajic who scored two against Groningen.