The first round proper of European football’s elite competition is always eagerly anticipated, and this season’s draw didn’t disappoint with several intriguing groups being drawn out the hat.
How the Champions League Draw Works
The thirty two sides entered in the Champions League group stage draw are split into four different pots depending on their seed. The seeds are determined by UEFA’s coefficient system that ranks teams depending on their previous performances in UEFA competitions and leagues. Effectively this is a simple ranking system – much like a huge league table.
One team is drawn from each of the four pots to make up a group. In total there are eight groups with the teams finishing first and second at the end of the group stage fixtures progressing. The team finishing third will drop into the Europa League, and the team finishing bottom will be eliminated from European Competition.
The top seeds were Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, AC Milan, Arsenal, Sevilla and Bayern Munich.
Intriguing Champions League Fixtures
The standout groups of the 2009 UEFA Champions League group stage were clearly Group C and Group F.
Group C will see AC Milan take on Real Madrid, meaning a first return to the San Siro for former Milan star Kaka who joined Madrid in the summer. Both teams will have to work hard to get through the group though, as Marseille and FC Zurich will proof tricky opposition.
Group F has pitted Barcelona with Inter in what is an altogether inconvenient group for the duo. Inter and Barcelona swapped strikers Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the summer and will have to defend against their old employees to get through. However, neither side will relish long trips to Eastern Europe to face tough ties against Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev, who make up the group.
Of the rest of groups, Group E looks highly competitive with the presence of Liverpool, Lyon and Fiorentina, while Chelsea will be made to work for their place in the next round having been drawn with Atletico Madrid and Porto.
Meanwhile, Man United received a less than desirable draw having been pitted with long trips to CSKA Moscow and Besiktas as well as a tough double header with giant killing specialists Wolfsburg.
The 2009 draw is as follows:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Man United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Inter, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege
Champions League Debutants
This season has seen eight teams make their first appearance in the Champions League Group stages – the highest number of debutants since 1992.
German side Wolfsburg take their place having surprisingly won the Bundesliga title, as do AZ Alkmaar who won the Dutch Eredivisie against all the odds and are Holland’s sole representatives.
Belgian champions Standard Liege have finally made it to the group stage having narrowly missed out to Liverpool the previous season. Another overdue appearance is made by Swiss champions FC Zurich, while other new boys include Hungarians Debrecen, Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, Romania’s Unirea Urziceni and Russian champions Rubin Kazan.
