Champions League Draw 2013

[spacemanrich]

CRICKEY ! City is in the Group D draw for next year's Champions League with Real Madrid (current La Liga Champion), Ajax (current Dutch Champion) and Borussin Dortmund (current Bundesliga champion) ! Crickey (4) league champions in the same draw !?!? Has this ever happened before ?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... -d?cc=5901

At least ManU has to go to Turkey and play Galatarasa - I hope they don't burn down the stadium

[olan]

CRICKEY ! City is in the Group D draw for next year's Champions League with Real Madrid (current La Liga Champion), Ajax (current Dutch Champion) and Borussin Dortmund (current Bundesliga champion) ! Crickey (4) league champions in the same draw !?!? Has this ever happened before ?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... -d?cc=5901

At least ManU has to go to Turkey and play Galatarasa - I hope they don't burn down the stadium

Good post. Extra points for saying "Crickey" twice and not being Australian

[The Dr]

madrid's group is going to be awesome- german champions, english champions, spanish champions, dutch champions
this is how it should be!

[spacemanrich]

The only champions missing in this bracket are : Serie A (Italia) and Li Ligue (French) ....

[Dreamweapon]

I think I need to brush up on my Champions League rules - I thought all European countries' league champions qualified so theoretically you could have Welsh champions playing Icelandic champions.

Is it only the team that finishes as champion of the highest tier in each country that goes through - i.e. only one team per country?

[olan]

I think I need to brush up on my Champions League rules - I thought all European countries' league champions qualified so theoretically you could have Welsh champions playing Icelandic champions.

Is it only the team that finishes as champion of the highest tier in each country that goes through - i.e. only one team per country?

It depends on the country's "coefficient". Those countries with the highest coefficient enter their top four teams, usually the chanpions enter directly and the other teams may play qualifiers to make the group stage. Countries with low coefficients (Ireland, Scotland) might only have 1 team qualify for the Champions League, and even then that team might have to play qualifiers. Needless to say the system is designed to ensure the likes of Juventus, Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd, Chelsea etc all qualify regardless and play in the group stages. Spurs finished fourth in the EPL last year but did not qualify because Chelsea (who finished 6th) won the Chanmpion's League and so earn the right to defend their title.

In the old days (when I were a lad etc) the European Cup was simply made up of all the teams that won their leagues. Ties were played over two-legs on a knock-out basis with the last two sides playing a deciding match.

There is probably a more accurate explanation on Wikipedia....

[The Dr]

I think I need to brush up on my Champions League rules - I thought all European countries' league champions qualified so theoretically you could have Welsh champions playing Icelandic champions.

Is it only the team that finishes as champion of the highest tier in each country that goes through - i.e. only one team per country?

yeah and the europa cup is worth something and the cup winners cup is still going strong... now it's just boring bar the odd team that come through ie dortmund this year hopefully plus i do love watching madrid or barce play. remember when there was a 4 team group to qualify for another 4 team group before the knockouts started? now that was mind numbing tedious 'fun'

[James T]

I agree with Mancini. We can lose to Madrid, that's ok. Not like that though.

[solarflarez]

as a neutral...well a neutral that dont like Man City (cmon...just havin a laugh!) that was some ending to a game mate, jeez

[Shinesalight]

Yeah, only caught the 2nd half (and all of the goals that came with it) but what a game. I really didn't know who to cheer on in the end...talk about the lesser of two evils. Must say, it would have been a travesty if Man City had won after all the chances Real had. A draw would of been fair I guess.

[jack white]

was stuck watching the utd match last night (rte chose to show it instead of reigning champions chelsea vs juve who have champ league pedigree & making their long-awaited return to the comp, real stupid decision imo)

it was so fuckin boring compared to the night before.

this weeks viewing kinda encapsulated what's good & what's crap about the format.

btw, was glad the old lady got a draw.