Champions League group stage

The group stage of 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League will start on September 15th. This week’s winners joined the 22 automatic entrants completing the 32 teams that will fight for the best European club title. The group stage draw took place today at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The eight seeds based on the UEFA coefficient are: FC Barcelona (ESP), Chelsea FC (ENG), Liverpool FC (ENG), Manchester United FC (ENG), AC Milan (ITA), Arsenal FC (ENG), Sevilla FC (ESP) and FC Bayern München (GER).

As you can notice all four England clubs participating in this competition are placed in the top eight teams. Spain also has four participating clubs. Besides Barcelona which holds the last edition title and Sevilla, Spain also has Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the group stage.

Another country having four teams in Champions League is Italy. AC Milan, FC Internationale Milano, ACF Fiorentina and Juventus, which returns after a few years of absence, will play their chances on winning the title.

At the group stage draw, the 32 teams representing 18 nations were distributed in four value pots so that no team could meet another from the same association.

The six groups resulted after the drawings have the following structure:
- Group A: FC Bayern München (GER), Juventus (ITA), FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA) and Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR);
- Group B: Manchester United FC (ENG), PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS), Be?ikta? JK (TUR) and VfL Wolfsburg (GER);
- Group C: AC Milan (ITA), Real Madrid CF (ESP), Olympique de Marseille (FRA) and Club FC Zürich (SUI);
- Group D: Chelsea FC (ENG), FC Porto (POR), Atlético de Madrid (ESP) and APOEL FC (CYP);
- Group G: Sevilla FC (ESP), Rangers FC (SCO), VfB Stuttgart (GER) and AFC Unirea Urziceni (ROU);
- Group H: Arsenal FC (ENG), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Olympiacos FC (GRE) and R. Standard de Liège (BEL).

The group stage matches will be played in following days: 15/16 September, 29/30 September, 20/21 October, 3/4 November, 24/25 November and 8/9 December.

The best two teams in every group will qualify to the next stage while the third placed teams from every group will enter the UEFA Europa League Round of 32.

The 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League final will be played on the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid on Saturday 22 May 2010. The favorite on winning the trophy is the title holder, Barcelona which has at Ladbrokes a one to four chances to win. Other clubs with high odds are: Real Madrid 5.50, Manchester Utd 6.00, Chelsea 7.00 and Liverpool 9.00.
For more about 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League tournament visit UEFA’s official website: http://www.uefa.com