Bradford City travel to Russia tomorrow for Wednesday's Intertoto Cup semi-final against St Petersburg side FC Zenit knowing their European exploits have already exempted them until the third round of the Worthington Cup.

And delighted chairman Geoffrey Richmond confirmed that City have enjoyed their European adventure so much they will enter the competition next season if they get the chance.

City were due to enter the Worthing-ton Cup at the second round stage, but they will not play until the third round along with other Premiership clubs involved in European competition - Manchester United, Arsenal, Leeds United and Chelsea.

City's 3-0 aggregate win over Dutch side RKC Waalwijk leaves them 180 minutes away from a possible final with Premiership rivals Aston Villa and entry to the lucrative UEFA Cup.

Richmond said: "The adventure goes on and who knows where it will end?

"The Intertoto Cup is a tremendous boost for Chris Hutchings and the players. They are enjoying it and the supporters are absolutely loving it.

"If we have the opportunity to enter next year we will take it because of the huge entertainment we have enjoyed. There is nothing like winning games.

"We have had four wins from four games in the Intertoto and during the course of the campaign we have moved the club on from the Paul Jewell era to the era of Chris Hutchings."

Hutchings knows little about the Zenit side. But he will be studying a report from chief scout Alan Smith who watched them beat Hungarians LFC Tatabanya 2-1 on Saturday to give them a 4-2 aggregate victory.

But the City manager has played down the likelihood of an all-English final with Aston Villa, who meet Celta Vigo from Spain after their 3-1 aggregate win over Czech side Dukla Pribram.

Hutchings said: "We know we are only two more ties from reaching the UEFA Cup, but we will take one game at a time and the first match in Russia we know will be very tough."

There is a question over the fitness of influential defender David Wetherall who was carrired off on a stretcher 15 minutes from the end of the Waalwijk match.

Hutchings said: "David rolled his ankle a bit and one of their players came down on it. He had some ice on it afterwards and it didn't seem too bad. We will have to see how it develops."