Fulham pile on the pressure against FC Haka in the Intertoto Cup. (CraigPrentis/Allsport)

The much-criticised competition is derided by many as the worst and most insignificant European competition there is, but for three of the 60 teams that enter the Intertoto, a place in the more glamorous UEFA Cup awaits.

The Intertoto has grown in reputation since its inauguration in 1995, and while established sides often belittle it and use it as a last resort for European football, last season two of the three 'winners' were former European champions.

French giants Paris Saint-Germain lifted the 1996 European Cup Winners' Cup and Premiership side Aston Villa won the European Champions' Cup in the 1980s. Le Championnat side Troyes gave the Intertoto's smaller sides hope of glory when they emerged to claim the third UEFA Cup place, dispatching Newcastle United in the final.

The battling French outfit eventually went out of the UEFA Cup 5-6 on aggregate to Leeds United - who had reached the Champions League semi-final the previous term - while Villa fell at the first hurdle against Croatian side Varteks.

PSG went on to beat Rapid Bucharest and Rapid Vienna before going out to Scotland's Glasgow Rangers on penalties.

This season's Intertoto will follow the same format, and will offer another three teams a place in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Forty clubs set out in the first round, playing knockout two-leg matches on a home and away basis. They were joined in the second round by 12 clubs from the 12 highest ranking associations in UEFA, and eight top-seeded teams will join the competition in the third round.

The field is then narrowed down to 12 third round winners, who make up the semi-finals. The six teams that emerge from the semis are split to compete in three separate finals to produce three winners - who will become known on August 27.

This season's competition welcomes the likes of Bundesliga side TSV 1860 Munich, Premiership side Fulham, and the Primera Division's Villarreal, while Troyes make a return.

The eight seeded teams joining the third round on July 20 are Holland's NAC Breda, Italy's Perugia and Bologna, Greece's Egaleo FC, French side Lille, Germany's Kaiserlautern, Spain's Malaga and one of last year's trio of winners, Aston Villa.

And while some of those large teams may use the Intertoto as a back door into 'proper' European football, they will all be hoping to follow the example set by Bordeaux, who went all the way from the 1995 Intertoto Cup to the final of the UEFA Cup.

For small clubs, it offers the same opportunity - but, realistically, the chance to play some level of European football and the potential for a few lucrative matches against some of Europe's big names in the UEFA Cup is the appeal.

This season, the minnows are already causing upsets with Belerusian side BATE Borisov dumping TSV 1860 Munich out of the Intertoto Cup in humiliating fashion. Borisov won 5-0 on aggregate.

There were also close calls for Fulham, who edged past FC Haka on away goals after drawing 1-1 in the tiny paper mill town in Finland, and Serie A side Torino, who survived a scare at Austria's Bregenz to claim a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 aggregate victory.

The results highlight the importance of the competition to smaller clubs, who may be happy just to pit their wits against and defeat one or two established sides. However, if the UEFA places were removed from the competition, larger sides would not enter and that opportunity would not arise.

As long as the UEFA Cup places remain, the likes of Aston Villa and Kaiserlautern will continue to see the competition as a viable springboard to further European competition - however critical of the cup they may be.

If they fail, at least they had a decent pre-season warm-up.

Last term's beaten finalists Newcastle United went on to finish fourth in the Premiership, leading the league early in the campaign, and claimed a qualifying place in this season's UEFA Champions League.