With nine US players set to represent their respective clubs across Europe, Americans will have more than vested interest in the first round proper of this season's UEFA Cup, for which the draw took place on Friday afternoon.

Three of the five British clubs in the competition contract an American passport-holder, with Johann Smith at Bolton, Tim Howard at Everton and Brad Friedel in net for Blackburn Rovers.

US players are further found, throughout Europe, in the shape of Sampdoria striker Gabriel Ferrari, Charlie Davies at Hammarby, Brann defender Ramiro Corrales, Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu at Standard Liège and Aalborg defender Danny Califf.

Davies' Stockholm-based side faces one of the toughest tests of the first round in the shape of Portugal's SC Braga. Under the management of former Porto legend Jorge Costa, Braga finished fourth in Portugal last season and are planning to go far in the competition with the signings of a handful of Brazilian youngsters in the off-season, who join experienced Brazilian forward Jorginho.

However, Hammarby, currently six points off the pace in Sweden's top flight, finished third last season and will be hoping to add to their European pedigree.

Although Smith's Bolton Wanderers have played in only eight games in their entire European history - all under current Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce - this will be the second time in three years that they have qualified for the competition. It remains to be seen whether the young American will get a game.

They face a tricky test in the form of Macedonian side FK Rabotnicki, who made it to the second qualifying round for the Champions League in 2005/06 season. Despite a worrying start to their Premiership season under new manager Sammy Lee, Bolton will be buoyed after securing striker Nicolas Anelka for the foreseeable future, confidence that could help them through.

Everton and USMNT starting keeper Tim Howard face what should be an easy trip to the Ukraine to face inexperienced Metalist Kharkiv, who boast just five games of European experience in an 82-year history. Metalist might rely on Brazilian danger man Edmar, but they face a strong Everton side that finished sixth in the Premiership, last season, and have the likes of Mikel Arteta, Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Andrew Johnson in their ranks, as well as oft-injured Aussie Tim Cahill.

The other English team in the competition with an American goalkeeper is Blackburn Rovers, who will rekindle an old relationship with former player Georgios Donis, now manager of their opponents, Larissa FC of Greece. The Greek Cup winners have potential match winners in the shape of Brazilian playmaker Silva Alexandre and former Everton Striker Ibrahima Bakayoko, but with the likes of South African striker Benni McCarthy, Morten Gamst Pedersen, David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz, Rovers are well equipped for the challenge, having eased through Intertoto qualification.

Two Americans will go head to head when captain Califf's Danish outfit Aalborg BK meets Ferrari's Italian Serie A side Sampdoria. The Danes are currently six points off the pace in the SAS Liga after finishing the a respectable third in the 2006/07 season. They qualified via the Intertoto route, and have match winners in the form of Swede Rade Prica and Brazilian Caca.

Sampdoria are previous winners of the abandoned European Cup Winners Cup. They plan to go far this season after making moves in the offseason to rekindle the former Roma partnership of Vincenzo Montella and Real Madrid reject Antonio Cassano, who add a stern obstacle to Ferrari's chances of playing time.

After a short stint at Premiership club Newcastle United, Onyewu takes 1982 UEFA Cup winners Standard Liege up against Russian outfit Zenit St. Petersburg. The Russians are currently two points off the pace in their domestic league, having finished fourth last season and have standouts in Dutch hot-head Fernando Ricksen and Argentine Alejandro Dominguez.

They have played 50 games in European competition, winning over half of them, and should prove to be adequate opposition for the Belgian league leaders, who have made a 100% start to the domestic league season, scoring 16 goals in 4 games.

Corrales takes his Norwegian team SK Brann to Belgium for a clash with Club Brugge. Brann finished second in the Tippeligaen last season and are currently top with only eight games remaining. The Belgians are currently two points off the pace in the Jupiler League, and although they have had three coaches in the past 18 months, managed to finish sixth last season and win the Belgian Cup.

Bradley and Heerenveen qualified for the competition after finishing fifth in the Eredivisie last season. They still have prolific Brazilian forward Afonso Alves, who bagged a club record of 34 goals last term, at their disposal.

The Frisians will face Swedish Cup holders Helsingborgs IF, who have their own Brazilian danger man in Leandro Da Silva. Led by English manager Stuart Baxter, and currently six points off the pace in their domestic campaign, Helsingborgs was the last Swedish team to qualify for the main play of Champions League.

Hamburg will run up against Bulgarians Litex Lovech, but young American forward Preston Zimmerman is very unlikely to be involved in the tie.

The first round ties will be played on September 20th and October 4th, with the 40 progressing teams going into a group phase comprising eight groups of five teams. Each team will play two home and two away matches, with the top three teams in each group moving on to the round of 32, at which point they are joined by eight teams finishing third in their respective Champions League Groups.

Rabotnicki v Bolton
Everton v Metalist Kharkiv
Zenit St Petersburg v Standard Liège
Sampdoria v Aalborg
Hammarby v Braga
Larissa v Blackburn
Heerenveen v Helsingborgs
Hamburg v Litex Lovech