Round 2 of the Europa League Gets Underway Today

The second qualifying round of the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League gets underway today, with the second leg scheduled for next Thursday. 80 teams will participate in this round of competition, 5 of which have a higher club coefficient thank Newcastle United. Club coefficients affect tournament seeding, so if any of the 5 were eliminated it would obviously be a good thing for Newcastle. True upsets are still rather uncommon so early in the tournament, but hope is hope. Another storyline worth keeping track of is that of FC Twente. They are unlikely to play Toon target Douglas today, which would cup-tie him, but if Inter Turku keep today's match close, they may be tempted to insert him in the lineup next week.

The relevant matches are listed below. Clubs with a coefficient higher than 16.882 (Newcastle's number) are bolded.

FC Twente (The Netherlands) vs. Inter Turku (Finland)

Kazan Lankaran (Azerbaijan) vs. Lech Poznan (Poland)

Levadia Tallin (Estonia) vs. Anorthosis (Cyprus)

Rosenborg (Norway) vs. Ordabasy (Kazakhstan)

APOEL (Cyprus) vs. Senica (Slovakia)

The draw for the play-off round, where Newcastle will enter, takes place August 10.