2013/14 Champions League Preview
Will you watch any of Champions League
After this last weekend we finally know the 76 clubs that will take part in the 2013/14 Champions League. The UEFA Champions League in the greatest club tournament in the world. Fifty Two of the Fifty Four leagues in UEFA will take part.
All around the world football fans will flock to stadiums or TV screens to watch this tourney. It is hard for me to watch some of the earlier matches as they are not on TV where I live. I still follow as much as I can on my computer and smart phone. Most fans will wait till the group stage begins before turning into the action. Die hard fans will start watching in July when the First Qualifying Round kicks off. I am one of those fans and will be watching from Day one.
The following is a list of Clubs that will be playing in this addition of the Champions League Tourney. The numbers next to clubs name represents their club coefficient ranking
Joining in the first qualifying round:
EB/Streymur 2.316cc Lusitanos 1.100cc
Tre Penne 1.383cc Shirak 0.850cc
Will play on July 2/3 and July 9/10 two clubs will advance to the next qualifying round.
Joining in the second qualifying round:
BATE Borisov 39.175 Zeljeznicar 4.566
Celtic 37.538 FH 4.083
Steaua Bucuresti 35.604 Gyor 3.850
Viktoria Plzen 28.745 The New Saints 3.766
Dinamo Zagreb 25.916 Ludogorets Razgrad 3.450
Partizan 17.425 Sligo Rovers 3.225
Legia Warsaw 13.650 Shakhter Karagandy 2.941
Sheriff Tiraspol 11.533 Skenderbeu Korce 2.833
Maribor 9.941 Birkirkara 2.541
Slovan Bratislava 8.341 Cliftonville 2.116
Elfsborg 8.125 Vardar 2.050
Maccabi Tel Aviv 8.075 Daugava Daugavpils 1.658
Molde 7.835 Suteska Niksic 1.300
HJK 6.701 Nomme Kalju 1.191
Ekransas 6.300 Fola Esch 0.925
Neftchi Baku 5.708
Dinamp Tbilisi 5.333
Matches will be played July 16/17 and July 23/24 with 17 clubs advancing to the Third Qualifying round.
For the third Qualifying round clubs are broken up into Champions and Non-Champions. So far every club that has played in tourney won their league title. The 17 clubs who won in the second qualifying round will play in the Champions bracket. They will be joined by three more clubs.
Basel 59.785
Austria Wein 16.575
APOEL 35.366
Ten more clubs will enter the tourney in the third qualifying round. They will play in the non-champions bracket.
LYON 95.800 PAOK 28.800
Zenit St. Petersburg 70.766 Red Bull Salzburg 28.075
PSV Eindhoven 64.945 Nordsjaelland 12.640
Metalist Kharkiv 62.451 Grasshopper 7.285
Fenerbahce 46.400 Zulte Waregem 6.880
All matches for Champions and Non Champions bracket matches will be played on 30/31 July and 6/7 August. 10 clubs will advance to playoff round from Champions Bracket while five clubs will advance from non-champions bracket.
For the Playoff Round the 10 clubs that advance from the Champions bracket of the third qualifying round will face of against each other. The five clubs from the non-champions bracket will be joined by five new clubs.
Arsenal 113.592 Real Sociedad 17.605
Milan 93.829 Pacos de Ferreira 12.833
Schalke 04 84.922
These matches will be played on 20/21 Aug and 27/28 Aug.
The last 22 clubs make their entrance in the Group Stage round and will be joined by the 10 clubs advancing from Playoff Round. these 32 clubs will be broke up into eight four club groups and play each team in group twice. From there Tourney will dwindle down to one ultimate Champion. Those clubs entering in group stage are some of the best in the world.
Bayern Munich 146.922 defending champion Paris Saint-Germain 71.800
Barcelona 157.605 Juventus 70.829
Chelsea 137.592 Manchester City 70.592
Real Madrid 136.605 AJAX 64.945
Manchester United 130.592 Borussia Dortmund 61.922
Porto 104.833 Olympiacos 57.800
Benfica 102.833 Galatasaray 54.400
Atletico madrid 99.605 Bayer Leverkusen 53.922
Shakhtar Donetsk 94.951 Copenhagen 47.140
Marseille 78.800 Napoli 46.829
CSKA Moscow 77.766 Anderlecht 44.880
Group play begins Sep 17-18
Sixteen clubs advance to Round of 16
Eight clubs advance to Qtr Finals
Four clubs advance to Semi-Finals
and Two clubs will play for title 24 May 2014 in Lisbon