Fast Forward To Group Stages

By: Adam | August 30th, 2007

Finally after a long wait we have 32 best teams(err… 31 since AEK Athens vs. Sevilla was postponed, but Sevilla should qualify in my opinion) in Europe who will be competing for Champions League glory. As usual yesterday’s European night was full of drama and surprise. Lets look at the “champions” who will be fighting for Champions League.

Qualified teams after qualification rounds:
Lazio, Rangers, Liverpool, Dynamo Kiev, Shakhtar Donestsk, Besitkas, Steaua Bucharest, Sevilla/AEK Athens, Arsenal, Werder Bremen, Fenerbahce, Slavia Prague, Benfica, Valencia, Rosenborg, Celtic

Automatic Qualifiers:
AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto, Sporting Lisbon, FC Schalke 04, Vfb Stuttgart, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow

Today, draws will be held for group stages of Champions League. All the teams have been divided into 4 pots according to their seeding. Seeding is determined by their UEFA coefficients. The club coefficient is determined by the results of a club in European club competition in the last five seasons, and the league coefficient. Each group will contain one team from each pot. Also there are various rules like no two teams from one country can be drawn in same group.

Pots according to UEFA coefficients are:

Pot 1: AC Milan (ITA),Barcelona (ESP),Liverpool (ENG), Inter Milan (ITA), Arsenal (ENG), Real Madrid (ESP), Chelsea (ENG), Manchester United (ENG)

Pot 2: Valencia (ESP), Olympique Lyonnais (FRA), Porto (POR), Sevilla (ESP) / AEK Athens (GRE), PSV Eindhoven (NED), AS Roma (ITA), SL Benfica (POR), Werder Bremen (GER)

Pot 3: Celtic (SCO), Schalke 04 (GER),VfB Stuttgart (GER), Steaua Bucureşti, CSKA Moskva, Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR), S.S. Lazio (ITA), Olympique de Marseille (FRA)

Pot 4: Rangers (SCO) , Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Beşiktaş JK (TUR), Olympiacos CFP (GRE), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Fenerbahçe SK (TUR), SK Slavia Prague (CZE), Rosenborg BK (NOR)

Given the quality of the teams in every pot, I’m sure there will atleast be one “group of death”. Last year it was Group A consisting of Barcelona, Chelsea, Levski Sofia, Werder Bremen. I fancy for Arsenal, AS Roma, Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk this time. All these 4 teams are more or less on same level in terms of quality and every single match will be mouth watering from this group. Every Roma fan should be hoping to meet Manchester United in the group stages just for the sake of “revenge” for what happened in Old Trafford last year. I also fancy Valencia should be drawn with Chelsea. Valencia will be eager to avenge their defeat in last edition of CL where as Chelsea will not let their roller coaster to go off the track. How about Inter and Valencia in the same group? I’m sure David Navarro will be having more goose bumps than anyone else even though he is not playing for Valencia at the moment. I can go on and on and on for such permutations and combinations for the draw. Please share with us what you feel and your “fantasies” for group stage draws.

Bob (editor in chief for The Offside) has made my job little easier by giving insight on 3rd qualifying round results. You can find this article here.
Let the red carpet roll in Monaco.