Tottenham Hotspur's desperation to play European football has driven the club to apply to enter next season's Intertoto Cup. The club are still in the Uefa Cup and will face Chelsea in the Carling Cup final but their mid-table berth - despite a recovery of form under Juande Ramos - offers little hope of a lucrative continental assault.

Spurs had hoped to finish among the Premier League's top four this season but those expectations were dashed by a poor start to the campaign that resulted in Martin Jol's replacement with the Spaniard. "The Football Association is allowed one entrant being the highest placed of four clubs finishing outside the automatic European qualifying places," Tottenham said on its website.