Getting to know the Sevillistas. Figures, facts, stars - and operas!

UEFA Cup 2008/2009, First Round First Leg.
FC Sevilla v Red Bull Salzburg,
18 September 2008, 8:45 pm, Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán.

Red Bull Salzburg are to fly to Seville on 17 September with their jet taking them straight to the capital of both Andalusia and the Sevilla province. Asides from being home to a top football team, the 700,000-big Southern Spanish city is a tourist magnet plus an important industrial and trading centre.

Salzburg has much more in common with Seville than just their UEFA Cup pairing. Seville, like Salzburg, is an opera city, with masterpieces such as Bizet's "Carmen", Rossini's "Barber of Seville", Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" and "The Marriage of Figaro" set in the city.

Shrill voices may be raised too on 14 October when FC Seville celebrates the 103rd anniversary of its founding. The Andalusian team were a founding member of the Spanish league’s Primera División.

It has been a while since the club has celebrated some significant domestic success, 43 years in fact since FC Sevilla won their first and last league championship.

The Sevillistas have been more successful in Spain's Copa del Rey. Sevilla have won the royal cup four times, most recently in 2007. They were also the first Andalusian team to play in the European Cup in 1957/58.

Sevilla just missed out on qualifying for the Champions League in 2004/2005, while much to their annoyance city rival Real Betis made it into Europe's top club competition a year later.

FC Sevilla play their home matches at the 45,000 capacity Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán, which is usually packed to the rafters. The stadium hosted games in the 1982 World Cup and also provided the setting for the 1986 European Cup Final.

A list of former Sevilla stars reads like a who's who? of international football. Amongst others, the club can boast of having fielded the likes of Maradona, Zamorano, Bebeto, Prosinecki, Saviola, Suker, Sergio Ramos – and of course Austria's Toni Polster.