The Race Begins

MONACO, Monaco.- The long wait is finally over, after a summer of football drought the UEFA Champions League season 2009-10 is about to begin. Last Thursday, August 27 representatives from the 32 participating clubs and from the UEFA executive board participated in the group stage draw.

The 32 clubs were classified in four pots of 8 teams each based on their UEFA coefficient, that is their ranking compared to other professional clubs. Then, the groups eight groups were seeded which brought great results.

Group A Bayern Munchen, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa

Group B Manchester United, CSKA Moskow, 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 *, Internazionale, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan

Group G Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart * Unirea Urziceni

Group H Arsenal *, AZ Alkmaar *, Olympiakos, Standard Liege

• Denotes a team with a Mexican player.
• Great matches await in the next few months some of them include: Barcelona vs. Inter and AC Milan vs. Real Madrid. Other novelties are the 8 teams that participate for the first time in the tournament: Maccabi Haifa, Wolfsburg, Debrecen, Uniea Urziceni, FC Zurick, APOEL, Rubin Kazan, and Standard Liege.

Miguel Gtz.