UEFA Champions League 09/10 – Treading A New Path

The UEFA Champions League has a good look about it this season. UEFA President Michel Platini has tweaked the rules of entry in order to inject more variety into the competition, and his initiative already looks like being a success. The creation of a ‘Champions Path’ and ‘Non-Champions Path’ in the qualifying stages has added new freshness to the makeup of the group stages heading into the 2009/2010 instlament, as well as significantly spicing up qualifying rounds that had grown to become little more than obligatory, dull formalities for underperforming clubs with untold resources.

Platini’s decision to adjust the rules to make it that bit harder for non-champions to qualify for the group stages appears to have been the right thing to do. Clubs like Arsenal may boast greater financial weight, but in a tournament that still calls itself the Champions League what right does a fourth placed Premier League or La Liga side have to enter the competition ahead of actual league winners from other countries? By reconfiguring the qualifying rounds in this way Platini has given increased balance to a Champions League that had become less about sporting prowess and success on the football field and more about country coefficients and team finances.

Eight teams will make their Champions League debuts this year – AZ Alkmaar, VfL Wolfsburg, FC Rubin Kazan, Standard Liège, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni VSC, APOEL FC and FC Zürich, meaning new horizons for excited supporters of these clubs and fresh, untrodden territories to visit for fans of the competition regulars, and while some may turn their noses up and condescendingly mouth ‘Who?’ at the new names (Sky pundits earlier debated with Richard Keys on why ‘big clubs like Celtic and Panathinaikos’ should have to miss out) it is worth remembering that all eight newcomers are champions of their respective countries, unlike the aforementioned duo.

With the draw taking place tomorrow at 16.30 GMT here is the makeup of the four different pots from which the groups will be comprised:

POT 1 – FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, AC Milan, Arsenal, Sevilla, Bayern Munich

POT 2 - Olympique Lyonnais, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, FC Porto, AZ Alkmaar, Juventus, Rangers

POT 3 - Olympiakos, Olympique Marseille, Dynamo Kiev, VfB Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Girondins Bordeaux, Besiktas

POT 4 - VfL Wolfsburg, Standard Liège, Maccabi Haifa, FC Zürich, FC Rubin Kazan, AFC Unirea Urziceni, APOEL FC, Debreceni VSC

10 clubs are former winners of the competition and 8 are newcomers, as opposed to just 4 new participants last season, while 18 different countries will be represented. Teams from the same pot cannot play each other of course, while teams from the same countries but different pots are also kept apart at this stage of the tournament.

There is certainly a distinctly refreshing feeling to the last 32 group stage this season. Part of that is also down to the range of new champions created in various countries around Europe. Bayern Munich are there but it is VfL Wolfsburg who represent Germany as champions of their land. AZ Alkmaar are champions of Holland, while arguably more prestigious names like Ajax and PSV Eindhoven are nowhere to be seen. Instead of Steaua Bucharest it is little Unirea Urziceni, managed by former Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu, that represent Romania as domestic kings. And Rubin Kazan are champions of Russia. Debreceni VSC meanwhile carry the torch for Hungary, who have not had a team in the Champions League group stages for 14 years.

So while credit is due to Michel Platini for ushering in this inventive yet necessary tweak to the Champions League format, the rise of the little guy, a phenomenon that appears to have swept across quite a bit of Europe last season, was also a contributory factor to this newfound diversity.

Given the quality of the teams present in all four pots, with luminary names like Real Madrid and Inter Milan only making pot 2 and potentially dangerous opponents such as French champions Bordeaux and Atletico Madrid lurking in pot 3, the 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League looks as though it will ably carry on the competition’s glowing reputation for producing entertainment, excitement and top class football. We can’t wait.

Photo courtesy of photoreti on Flickr.

AFC Unirea Urziceni, APOEL FC, AZ Alkmaar, Champions League, Debreceni VSC, Europe, FC Zurich, Michel Platini, Rubin Kazan, Standard Liege, Vfl Wolfsburg