Thursday, August 5, 2010

Champions League, one more round of qualifiers.

Same format as last year if you haven't been following, and the draw to determine the last 10 teams for the Champions League is this Friday morning. The 22 teams that are already in the league stage are:
1FC Internazionale Milano (ITA) – Titleholders 100.867
2FC Barcelona (ESP) 136.951
3Manchester United FC (ENG) 125.371
4Chelsea FC (ENG) 118.371
5Arsenal FC (ENG) 115.371
6FC Bayern München (GER) 110.841
7AC Milan (ITA) 99.867
8Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) 96.748
9Real Madrid CF (ESP) 84.951
10AS Roma (ITA) 83.867
11FC Shakthar Donetsk (UKR) 73.910
12SL Benfica (POR) 72.659
13Valencia CF (ESP) 66.951
14Olympique de Marseille (FRA) 62.748
15Panathinaikos FC (GRE) 56.979
16Rangers FC (SCO) 56.158
17FC Schalke 04 (GER) 54.841
18FC Spartak Moskva (RUS) 33.758
19FC Twente (NED) 25.309
20FC Rubin Kazan (RUS) 21.758
21CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU) 15.898
22Bursaspor (TUR) 6.890

The number to the right is their UEFA Club Coefficient. This number is important as it will determine who the seeded teams will be, who will be in Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4.

The Playoff Round Participants, if I am to have the website interpreted correctly, will be in these pots:

CHAMPIONS ROUTE
Pot 1
FC Basel (SUI) 48.675
RSC Anderlecht (BEL) 42.58
FC Kobenhavn (DEN) 34.47
Hapoel Tel Aviv (ISR) 27.775
Sparta Prague (CZE) 27.395

CHAMPIONS ROUTE
Pot 2
Rosenborg (NOR)
23.98FC Salzburg (AUT)
19.915Partizan Belgrade (SER)
13.8MSK Zilina (SVK)
10.67FC Sheriff (MDA) 5.46

OUTLOOK: Rosenborg has history in the Champions League, although distant, and would be the biggest threat. Still, I can't see any of the teams in the first pot going out in the playoff stage.

LEAGUE ROUTE
Pot 1
Sevilla (ESP) 108.951
Werder Bremen (GER) 94.841
Zenit (RUS) 61.258
Tottenham (ENG) 56.371
Ajax (NED) 55.309

LEAGUE ROUTE
Pot 2
Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 42.910
SC Braga (POR) 39.659
Sampdoria (ITA) 30.867
Auxerre (FRA) 19.748
BSC Young Boys (SUI) 7.675

OUTLOOK: 2 or 3 teams are going to be good enough to reach the league stage and will end up getting shipped to the Europa League. This is obviously the more exciting draw as Dynamo Kiev gave Barcelona and Inter all they wanted at the group stage last season. Sampdoria won't be a pushover either, and Braga demolished Celtic in the first leg of the previous playoff to get here. Sevilla will go through and as a result will be a seeded team in the group stage draw based on their coefficient.

Just thought I would drop a little knowledge on how this works.