The UEFA Champions League Playoffs, Nigerians To Take Part

Nigeria stars led by Emmanuel Emenike and Efe Ambrose will feature in the UEFA Champions League playoffs, whose draw will be staged on Friday.
  
Ambrose (Celtic, Scotland),  Emenike and Joseph Yobo (Fenerbahce, Turkey) as well as Chinedu Obasi (Schalke 04, Germany) will know their foes on Friday as they look forward to book places in group stage of the prestigious UEFA Champions League. 
  
A number of Nigerian players started the journey but their clubs fell by the wayside. 
  
Nurudeen Orelesi, who plays for Albania champions Skenderbeu Korce lost to Shakhter Karagandy 5-3 on aggregate, while Molde (Norway) duo of Daniel Chima and Emmanuel Ekpo lost to Polish team Legia Warsaw on the away goals’ rule. 
  
The surviving Nigerians could now face tough opposition in the likes of Arsenal, Lyon, AC Milan and Zenit St Petersburg. 
  
The playoff games are scheduled for August 20 and August 27. 

The 10 winners in the playoff round ties join 22 automatic entrants in the group stage draw to be held in Monaco on August 29.
  
Below are the clubs to be involved in the UEFA Champions League playoff round draw: 


Arsenal
Lyon
AC Milan
Schalke 04
Zenit St Petersburg 
PSV Eindhoven 
Metalist Kharkiv 
Fenerbahçe
Real Sociedad 
Paços de Ferreira 
FC Basel 
Celtic
Steaua Bucureşti  
Dinamo Zagreb
FK Austria Wien 
Legia Warszawa
Maribor 
Ludogorets Razgrad 
FC Shakhter Karagandy