Once again two Spanish sides will be participating in this summer's Intertoto Cup, with the lower ranked team entering at the second round stage and the higher ranked team coming in a round later. The draw was made earlier this month, although the Spanish sides will not be known until the league finishes at the end of May. As usual though, the places will be offered to clubs who have finished just outside of the UEFA cup spots in the league table. Last season Atlético Madrid and Villarreal took part, meeting each other in one of the three finals. Villarreal won through in the end after a penalty shoot out, and consequently played in the UEFA cup, where they went on to reach the quarter finals before being knocked out by Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. (27.04.05)

Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña were the two sides who qualified for the competition this year after finishing seventh and eighth in the league. Curiously both were in the Champions League last season. Deportivo enter the competition in the second round and Valencia in the third. A third Spanish side Athletic Bilbao will join them after they were invited to participate following the withdrawal of Blackburn Rovers and another side from the competition. They too will enter at the second round stage. (03.06.05)