The five Greek sides in the UEFA Cup have been handed a tough draw for the group stages with Panathinaikos and AEK not seeming to benefit much from their high seeding.

Panathinaikos, who were placed in the pot of top seeds, have been drawn in Group B with Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, Danish team FC Copenhagen and Aberdeen from Scotland.

AEK were seeded in the second pot of teams and have been drawn in Group C with Villareal of Spain, who made the Champions League semi-final two years ago, Fiorentina, the only Italian side left in the tournament, Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Republic and Elfsborg of Sweden.

Larissa, conquerors of Blackburn Rovers in the previous round, are in Group A and will face Louis Van Gaal's AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, Zenit St Petersburg of Russia, Premiership side Everton and Angelos Charisteas's Nuremberg.

Aris face perhaps the toughest task of all the Greek teams as they have been drawn in Group F with German powerhouse Bayern Munich, Stelios Giannakopoulos's Bolton, Braga of Portugal and the team Dusan Bajevic walked out on Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade).

Panionios also have an unenviable task in Group H as they have to take on Bordeaux of France, Austria Vienna, Turkish giants Galatasaray and Helsinborgs of Sweden.

Each club will play two matches at home and two away on 25 October, 8 November, 29 November, 05/06 December, 19/20 December. A computer draw will determine the fixture schedule with factors such as stadium clashes and climatic conditions - it is not possible to play in some northern countries in mid-December - taken into account, according to UEFA.

Sportingreece.com will bring you the fixtures as soon as they are announced.

The eight groups are as follows:

Group A
AZ Alkmaar
Zenit St Petersburg
Everton
Nuremburg
Larissa

Group B
Panathinaikos
Lokomotiv Moscow
Atletico Madrid
Copenhagen
Aberdeen

Group C
Villarreal
AEK Athens
Fiorentina
Mlada Boleslav
Elfsborg

Group D
Basle
Hamburg
Stade Rennais
Dinamo Zagreb
Brann

Group E
Bayer Leverkusen
Sparta Prague
Spartak Moscow
Toulouse
FC Zurich

Group F
Bayern Munich
Bolton
Braga
Red Star Belgrade
Aris Thessaloniki

Group G
Anderlecht
Tottenham
Getafe
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Aalborg

Group H
Bordeaux
Austria Vienna
Galatasaray
Panionios
Helsingsborgs