FC Sion
Seed: Four
Background: The Swiss side have been somewhat dwarfed by the immense success of Basel. However, they are more than worth their own slice of domestic history. They’ve won the first division title twice and have won the national cup on thirteen occasions. Incredibly, they’ve also never lost a final.
How did they qualify: It must have been fairly predictable once they’d reached the final that they were going to win it yet again. That’s some record. They beat Basel to claim the cup earlier this year, winning 3-0.
Best European performance: They once reached the third round of the UEFA Cup, back in 1995, but have generally fallen early. Last time they competed in Europe, in 2012, they were beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Celtic. They have once reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, losing to Lokomotiv Leipzig.
Key players: Full-back Reto Ziegler has previously played in the Premier League for Tottenham and Wigan. Young forward Moussa Konate has scored a lot of goals over the last few years and is one to watch.
Fixtures: Thursday 1 October (Home), Thursday 10 December (Away)
Past meetings: Liverpool 6-3 FC Sion (McManaman, Bjornebye, Barnes, Fowler 2, Berger, 1996); FC Sion 1-2 Liverpool (Fowler, Barnes, 1996)
