Here's the teams in the Champions League so far for next year... Teams going directly to group Stage (16 teams)... Title Holders -- Juventus or AC Milan Spain (2) -- Top 2 from Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Deportivo. Italy (2) -- Juve and Inter or AC Milan. England (2) -- Man United and Arsenal Germany (2) -- Bayern Munich and Dortmund or Stuttgart France (2) -- Lyon and Marseille or Monaco Greece (2) -- Top 2 of Olympiakos, Panathinaikos or AEK Athens Netherlands (1) -- Winner of Eindhoven, Ajax or Feyenoord Turkey (1) -- Besiktas Portugal (1) -- Porto Note: If Juve wins the CL or if AC Milan wins the CL and finishes 2nd in Serie A, then the Russian champion also gets automatic entry to the group stage. Teams entering in the 3rd group stage (18 teams) include... Spain (2) -- 3rd from teams above and Valencia or Celta Vigo Italy (2) -- Inter or AC Milan and Lazio England (2) -- Newcastle and Chelsea Germany (1) -- Dortmund, Stuttgart or Hamburg France (1) -- Marseille or Monaco Greece (1) -- 3rd from teams above Netherlands (1) -- 2nd of teams above Turkey (1) -- Galatasaray Portugal (1) -- Porto Russia (1) -- Lok Moscow Czech Republic (1) -- Sparta Prague Scotland (1) -- Rangers or Celtic Ukraine (1) -- Shakhtar or Dynamo Kiev Belgium (1) -- Brugge or Anderlecht Austria (1) -- Austria Wien Switzerland (1) -- Grasshoppers or Basel If the Russian champion goes straight into group stage, then the Swiss champion steps into the 3rd qualifying round. Otherwise, they'll be in the 2nd qualifying round.
Kev, I can't seem to find this information, so maybe you know. If Milan wins the Champions League, but finishes third in Italy behind Inter, does that mean Milan would take what would have been Inter's automatic CL berth (bumping Inter to the qualifying round), or would Italy have three teams in the group stages? It seems like the latter from reading your post, but I'm not sure.
Sue, That's not how it works. The Title Holder gets 1 spot and Serie A gets 2 spots for it's top two finishers. Therefore, if Milan wins the CL final, they are in as Title Holder. Then if Serie A finishes the way it stands now, Juve and Inter would be in as the top 2 finishers. If Milan wins the CL final and finishes 2nd in Serie A, then the 3rd place Serie A team doesn't move up. In that case, the Russian champion, Lokomotive Moscow, would move up into that spot. The same would happen if Juve wins the CL final -- that would put Lok Moscow straight into the group stage. Kevin
You have Porto as both the automatic qualifier and one of the teams in the 3rd qualifying round. Which one is true? I would think the Portuguese champs would enter directly into the group stage.
Updated 5/25 : Title Holders -- Juventus or AC Milan Spain (2) -- Top 2 from Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Deportivo. Italy (2) -- Juve and Inter England (2) -- Man United and Arsenal Germany (2) -- Bayern Munich and Stuttgart France (2) -- Lyon and Monaco Greece (2) -- Olympiakos and Panathinaikos Netherlands (1) -- Winner of Eindhoven or Ajax Turkey (1) -- Besiktas Portugal (1) -- Porto Teams entering in the 3rd group stage (18 teams) include... Spain (2) -- 3rd from teams above and Valencia or Celta Vigo Italy (2) -- Milan and Lazio England (2) -- Newcastle and Chelsea Germany (1) -- Dortmund France (1) -- Marseille Greece (1) -- AEK Athens Netherlands (1) -- 2nd from teams above Turkey (1) -- Galatasaray Portugal (1) -- Benfica Russia (1) -- Lok Moscow Czech Republic (1) -- Sparta Prague Scotland (1) -- Rangers Ukraine (1) -- Shakhtar or Dynamo Kiev Belgium (1) -- Brugge or Anderlecht Austria (1) -- Austria Wien Switzerland (1) -- Grasshoppers or Basel
Scotland has 2 champions league places for next season, so both celtic and rangers will be involved. Celtic from the second qualifying round and rangers from the third.
I think our uefa adventure will have done us good in that respect, just need to get the board to freshen up the squad a bit
2003/2004 Seeding: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seedcl2003.html (This is a great site, everybody should bookmark it)
Sorry -- my mistake. olegunner has it corrected. Yes, I only listed down thru the 3rd qualifying. I didn't list the teams for the 1st or 2nd qualifying rounds. In addition to Scotland, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belgium and Austria all get their league runners-up in the 2nd round as well. Switzerland, Norway, Israel, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Slovakia and Bulgaria all get their domestic champions in the 2nd qualifying round. The domestic champions from Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Belarus, Lithuania, Republic of Ireland, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Malta, Wales, Estonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Northern Ireland, Albania, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan all gain entry to the 1st qualifying round. I got my info from this location at uefa. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=38401.html The site listed by SwissGCZ is updated for the teams that have qualified and also lists how the teams would be seeded for the drawings.
i agree and NOT winning has made larsson ravenous for next season - man, he took that hard for instance? superkev? a new back? i dont see many rumours about celtic - who do you see o'neill trying to bring in?
from UEFA link: New-look Champions League Next season's Champions League will have a new look, after a recent decision to revamp the competition. A 32-team single group phase will be followed by a 16-team knockout phase. Does that mean the group stages will only be single round-robin? Or is it still double?
Or in other words, it's exactly like WC, unless you double the games (home and away) for each round, except the final.
Correct. An improved schedule IMO. The more home/away doubleheaders, the better. The tournament really never comes alight before that stage anyway.
Updated 5/29 (and added teams joining 1st & 2nd rounds). All teams yet to be determined are in italics. Teams in Group Stage (16 teams) Title Holders -- AC Milan Spain (2) -- Top 2 from Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Deportivo (3 games left) Italy (2) -- Juve and Inter England (2) -- Man United and Arsenal Germany (2) -- Bayern Munich and Stuttgart France (2) -- Lyon and Monaco Greece (2) -- Olympiakos and Panathinaikos Netherlands (1) -- Eindhoven Turkey (1) -- Besiktas Portugal (1) -- Porto With AC Milan winning the title, that forces Russian Champion Lok. Moscow to play in through qualifying. Only the Spain participants to be determined. Sociedad and Madrid could lock them up with wins this weekend combined with a Depor loss or draw. Teams entering in the 3rd qualifying stage (18 teams) Spain (2) -- 3rd from teams above (probably Deportivo) and Celta Vigo or Valencia Italy (1) -- Lazio England (2) -- Newcastle and Chelsea Germany (1) -- Dortmund France (1) -- Marseille Greece (1) -- AEK Athens Netherlands (1) -- Ajax Turkey (1) -- Galatasaray Portugal (1) -- Benfica Russia (1) -- Lok Moscow Czech Republic (1) -- Sparta Prague Scotland (1) -- Rangers Ukraine (1) -- Dynamo Kiev or Shakhtar (1 game remains 6/2) Belgium (1) -- Brugge Austria (1) -- Austria Wien Switzerland (1) -- Grasshoppers or Basel (1 game remains 5/31) Teams entering in 2nd qualifying round (18 teams) Russia (1) – CSKA Moscow Czech Republic (1) – Slavia Prague Scotland (1) -- Celtic Ukraine (1) –- loser of Dynamo Kiev or Shakhtar (1 game remains) Belgium (1) -- Anderlecht Austria (1) – Graz AK Norway (1) -- Rosenborg Israel (1) – M. Tel Aviv or M. Haifa (1 game remains) Croatia (1) – Dinamo Zagreb Poland (1) – Wisla or Katowice (2 games remain) Denmark (1) – FC Copenhagen or Brondby (4 games remain) Sweden (1) – Djurgardens IF Serbia (1) – Partizan Belgrade Slovakia (1) – Slovan Bratislava or Zilina (3 games remain) Blugaria (1) – CSKA Sofia Romania (1) – Rapid Bucharest Hungary (1) – Ferencvarosi or MTK Hungaria (1 game remains) Slovenia (1) – NK Maribor Teams entering in 1st qualifying round (20 teams) Cyprus (1) –- Omonia Nicosia Finland (1) -- Helsinki Latvia (1) –- Skonta Riga Georgia (1) – Dinamo Tbilisi or Torpedo Kutaisi (1 game remains) Moldova (1) – Sheriff Tiraspol Belarus (1) – BATE Borisov Lithuania (1) – FBK Kaunas Ireland (1) –- Bohemians Dublin Macedonia (1) – Vardar Skopje Malta (1) – Sliema Wanderers Wales (1) – Barry Town Estonia (1) – Flora Tallinn Bosnia-Herz. (1) – Leotar Trebinje Armenia (1) – Pyunik Yerevan No. Ireland (1) -- Glentoran Albania (1) – SK Tirana Faroe Isl. (1) – HB Torshavn Luzembourg (1) – CS Grevenmacher Kazakhstan (1) – Irtysh Pavlodar
Updated 6/4. All teams yet to be determined are in bold/italics. The only teams not yet decided are those from Spain, Denmark and Slovakia. Teams in Group Stage (16 teams) Title Holders -- AC Milan Spain (2) -- Top 2 from Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Deportivo (2 games left) Italy (2) -- Juve and Inter England (2) -- Man United and Arsenal Germany (2) -- Bayern Munich and Stuttgart France (2) -- Lyon and Monaco Greece (2) -- Olympiakos and Panathinaikos Netherlands (1) -- Eindhoven Turkey (1) -- Besiktas Portugal (1) -- Porto Only the Spain participants to be determined -- Sociedad & Madrid missed their chance to eliminate Deportivo with draws and Deportivo claws back into it with a win. Remaining games are 6/15 & 6/22. Teams entering in the 3rd qualifying stage (18 teams) Spain (2) -- 3rd from teams above (probably Deportivo) and Celta Vigo or Valencia Italy (1) -- Lazio England (2) -- Newcastle and Chelsea Germany (1) -- Dortmund France (1) -- Marseille Greece (1) -- AEK Athens Netherlands (1) -- Ajax Turkey (1) -- Galatasaray Portugal (1) -- Benfica Russia (1) -- Lok Moscow Czech Republic (1) -- Sparta Prague Scotland (1) -- Rangers Ukraine (1) -- Dynamo Kiev Belgium (1) -- Brugge Austria (1) -- Austria Wien Switzerland (1) -- Grasshoppers Teams entering in 2nd qualifying round (18 teams) Russia (1) – CSKA Moscow Czech Republic (1) – Slavia Prague Scotland (1) -- Celtic Ukraine (1) –- Shakhtar Belgium (1) -- Anderlecht Austria (1) – Graz AK Norway (1) -- Rosenborg Israel (1) – M. Tel Aviv Croatia (1) – Dinamo Zagreb Poland (1) – Wisla Denmark (1) – FC Copenhagen or Brondby (3 games remain 6/15, 6/18 & 6/22) Sweden (1) – Djurgardens IF Serbia (1) – Partizan Belgrade Slovakia (1) – Zilina or Slovan Bratislava (2 games remain 6/14 & 6/17) Blugaria (1) – CSKA Sofia Romania (1) – Rapid Bucharest Hungary (1) – MTK Budapest Slovenia (1) – NK Maribor Teams entering in 1st qualifying round (20 teams) Cyprus (1) –- Omonia Nicosia Finland (1) -- Helsinki Latvia (1) –- Skonta Riga Georgia (1) – Dinamo Tbilisi Moldova (1) – Sheriff Tiraspol Belarus (1) – BATE Borisov Lithuania (1) – FBK Kaunas Ireland (1) –- Bohemians Dublin Macedonia (1) – Vardar Skopje Malta (1) – Sliema Wanderers Wales (1) – Barry Town Estonia (1) – Flora Tallinn Bosnia-Herz. (1) – Leotar Trebinje Armenia (1) – Pyunik Yerevan No. Ireland (1) -- Glentoran Albania (1) – SK Tirana Faroe Isl. (1) – HB Torshavn Luzembourg (1) – CS Grevenmacher Kazakhstan (1) – Irtysh Pavlodar
Anyone know how AS Monaco's financial problems (and possible demotion to the second division) are going to effect their CL status? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=268434&cc=5901 This is the most recent article I could find. They're appealing the demotion on the grounds that they can get out of debt by playing in the Champions League. It would be pretty funny to have a demoted team in the CL, I would think.
Since it happened to Ipswich this season in the UEFA Cup (Fair Play Award) I don't think one can automatically dismiss it. Although being demoted for financial reasons might be considered egregious enough to disqualify them. I can imagine the FFA wouldn't be happy to see a team that has been fiscally irresponsible being rewarded.
Basically the same list as kevburton posted... but here is a reuters article that lists the provisional champions league teams... http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-championsqualifiers&prov=reuters&type=lgns