NYON, Switzerland (AP) - AC Milan will face English FA Cup champion Portsmouth in the next phase of the UEFA Cup, and Tottenham was drawn into a tough group with Italian co-leader Udinese.

Seven-time European Cup champion Milan has never won the UEFA Cup, and Portsmouth is playing in continental football for the first time. The teams will meet at Fratton Park in Portsmouth on Nov. 27.

Milan is playing in the UEFA Cup because it finished fifth in Serie A last season, but the team is still considered to be the favorite in Europe's second-tier club competition.

"As No. 1 in the seedings it is our fate," Milan director Umberto Gandini said. "Winning the trophy you go to the UEFA Super Cup and play the champions of Europe. It is a good way for the club to reaffirm its dominance in European football."

SC Heerenveen, Braga and Wolfsburg are also in Group E, which kicks off Oct. 23.

"It is a good group all the way round," Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie said. "But we will enjoy it and I am sure our fans will pinch themselves thinking Portsmouth Football Club are going to play AC Milan in European competition."

Three teams from each group will advance to the knockout stages.

Tottenham has had its worst start in English football since 1912 under coach Juande Ramos, who led Sevilla to back-to-back UEFA Cup titles before he moved to White Hart Lane.

After a trip to Udinese on Oct. 23, the last-place team in the Premier League will face Spartak Moscow, Dinamo Zagreb and NEC Nijmegen in Group D.

"I am sure we will do well," Tottenham director of football Damien Comolli said. "The players are highly motivated about the UEFA Cup.

"We are not getting the results we thought we would get. But it is not time to be pointing fingers at anyone."

Sevilla is also in a tough group with Stuttgart, Sampdoria, Partizan Belgrade and Standard Liege, which ousted Everton in the previous round.

Group A has Schalke, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Racing Santander and FC Twente, one of five Dutch teams still in the competition.

That means former England coach Steve McClaren, who led Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final in 2006, must travel to meet another English club, Man City, on Nov. 6.

Twente lost to Arsenal in a Champions League qualifying game.

"With the amount of signings that Manchester City have made and the progress they have made as a football club they are now massive and expected to do very will this season with the likes of Robinho and Jo," McClaren said. "It's a fantastic draw for the football club, for the fans, for the players. FC Twente have not been in Europe that often and already we've played Arsenal and Rennes."

Greek champion Olympiakos faces Galatasaray in Turkey on Oct. 23 in what could be a security problem because of the two nations' traditional rivalry. Also in Group B is Benfica, Hertha Berlin and Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine.

Another tough group has Hamburg and Ajax with Sparta Prague, Aston Villa and MSK Zilina of Slovakia. Valencia, one of four Spanish survivors, faces FC Brugge, Rosenborg, FC Copenhagen and Saint-Etienne.

Deportivo de La Coruna is grouped with CSKA Moscow, Feyenoord, Nancy and Lech Poznan.

The UEFA Cup final is set for May 20 in Istanbul.

An easy group. FC Zurich was theoretically a much better team than some of these!

"Final on May 20, ISTANBUL!!!!"

...Man, we need to win the UEFA Cup in order to exorcise the 2005 ghosts..