Football: Rangers face Israeli champions

RANGERS FACE a trip into the unknown in the Uefa Cup with a meeting against Israeli opposition in the first round.

After knocking out the Greek club PAOK Salonika in midweek, the Ibrox side will now face Beitar Jerusalem, who failed to progress in the Champions' League, going down 8-4 on aggregate to Portugal's Benfica.

Celtic, who also faltered on the big stage against Croatia Zagreb, have been drawn to play the Portuguese side, Vitoria Guimaraes, in the same tournament.

Celtic's opponents finished third in the Portuguese league last season behind Porto and Benfica, with the best defensive record in the top division. They are coached by the Yugoslav, Zoran Filipovic, who was assistant coach for his country at the World Cup finals in France. The club's best known player is the former Portuguese international Victor Paneira, a dead-ball specialist. They usually play two Brazilians in attack, Gilmar and Edmilson.

Rangers' home tie against Beitar, scheduled for Tuesday 29 September, will be shifted to either Monday or Thursday of that week to avoid a clash with Celtic's home game.

Celtic's head coach, Jozef Venglos, and the Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira are to take charge of the Fifa World Stars squad on 9 September. They will face the Turkish Stars in Istanbul in a match to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Turkish Republic and their football association.

The Scotland international and Celtic midfielder Paul Lambert has been provisionally named in the Fifa squad.

Scottish League Cup quarter- final matches are taking place that week, but Celtic are not involved after they were knocked out by Airdrieonians in the last round.