The Quest for the Cup: UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw Complete
18 European nations will send a total of 32 club representatives to compete in the group stage for the coveted 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League Cup.
The group stage will begin September 15/16, with more fixtures coming 29/30 September, 20/21 October, 3/4 November, 24/25 November, 8/9 December.
The two clubs ranked highest in each group will then go on to compete in a kick-out stage while the third ranking team will join the round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League competition.
How is the draw done?
The 32 clubs (22 automatic qualifiers and 10 winners of previous tournament stages) are placed into seeding pots based on an UEFA assigned coefficient system. Each club will be drawn into a group of 8, while maintaining no two clubs from the same seeding pot nor the same nation will face each other in group assignment.
Competition newcomers VfL Wolfsburg, FC Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, R. Standard de Liège, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni VSC, APOEL FC and FC Zürich certainly have their work cut out for them as they will face the world’s greatest and most decorated football clubs.
All 32 clubs will be rewarded with a $10.1 million participation fee prior to the September 15 group stage start, and bonuses will be earned based on results. Group stage winners will receive an extra $1.14 million, and a trip to the final in Madrid in May will pay out another $12.8 million. And these sums do not even include television and merchandising revenue. In fact, runners up Manchester United counted $10 million more in revenue ($54 million total) from their participation than winners Barcelona because the value of the televison market in the UK is so great.
So clubs will compete for fame, glory, wealth and riches, and world wide recognition as the greatest football club in all of Europe.
Let it begin.
Today’s draw, held in Monaco, will see the following clubs compete in Group Stages:
Group A:
Bayern Munchen (Deutschland)
Juventus (Italy)
Bordeaux (France)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Group B:
Manchester United (England)
CSK Moscow (Russia)
Besiktas (Turkey)
Wolfsburg (Deutschland)
Group C:
AC Milan (Italy)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Marseilles (France)
Zurich (Switzerland)
Group D:
Chelsea (England)
FC Porto (Portugal)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
APOEL (Kyprios)
Group E:
Liverpool (England)
Lyon (France)
Fiorentina (Italy)
Debracen(Hungary)
Group F:
FC Barcelona (Spain)
Inter Milan (Italy)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)
Rubin (Russia)
Group G:
Sevilla (Spain)
Rangers (Scotland)
Stuttgart (Deutschland)
Unaria Urzecini (Romania)
Group H:
Arsenal (England)
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Olympiakos (Greece)
Standard (Belgium)
Can’t wait! I will do everything in my power to get to Wolfsburg for the United fixture!
Luuuuucky
wow katie, you’re quick on the draw. not even the bbc have an article out this quick, but they do have that live blogging thing going on.
check out chelsea’s and liverpool’s.
I had the draft up and ready and just watched the draw live to fill in the rest.
I’m committed. 1 month at WDKF today.
congratulations on your month-versary.
fyi. since i received the confirmation on the domains, ive submitted a design to our local tshirt printing company.
c-ch-che-chec-check it out – http://wedontknowfootball.wordpress.com/files/2009/08/wdkfcoukshirt1.jpg
Nice! That’s a good looking shirt. Please just get some in child’s size so I can wear one. Maybe we can do a coordinated global tshirt giveaway on a huge pub day…..
United Wolfsburg will be a great match. I am looking forward to seeing United play a new batch of teams that isn’t Villareal, Celic, Sporting, Lyon, etc…
Traveling to Turkey and Moscow will not be easy though.
I’ve always wanted to know this- why does Israel compete in UEFA? Is it because a match between Israel and saaaaay Iran would make the madness at Upton park look like an ocean of tranquility?
Anyone know?
Yeah you’ve got the right idea Katie, geographically speaking Israel by no means should be part of Uefa but due their lets say political and religous differences they can’t play in the Asian confereration or like you said a war just might break out…seriously lol
On the topic of Uefa members though, there are alot of nations which aren’t inside Europe but compete anyways such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan ect.
In a pure geographical sense Turkey isn’t really a part of Europe either but Uefa don’t care about such technicalities, it’s all about the $$$ :P
All 4 English teams have been spared tougher oppositions, but United will have to be wary of CSKA and Besiktas, where they will have to travel long distances and endure hostile crowds, which may have repercussions in the EPL weekend games.