Champions League – The countdown begins

The UEFA Champions League groups have been decided and come 15th September 2009, Matchday 1 kicks off.

The final format for this year’s Champions League was altered a bit which saw 22 teams qualify directly (including defending champions Barcelona) and 10 other teams joining them after the qualification rounds.

The final groups look like this –

Group A
Juventus
Bayern Munich
Girondins Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B
VfL Wolfsburg
Manchester United
Besiktas
CSKA Mosco

Group C
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Olympique Marseilles
FC Zuric

Group D
Chelsea
FC Porto
Atletico Madrid
Apoel Nicosia

Group E
Fiorentina
Olympique Lyonnais
Liverpool
Debrecen

Group F
FC Barcelona
Internazionale Milan
Dynamo Kiev
FK Rubin Kazan

Group G
VfB Stuttgart
Sevilla FC
Glasgow Rangers
Unirea Urziceni

Group H
AZ Alkmaar
Arsenal
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Group A – This group could turn out to be a tough one. Juventus and Bayern Munich look the favourites to move to the next round. But French champions Bordeaux are no pushovers and Maccabi Haifa could also pose a surprise or two.

Group B – Manchester United are expected to sail through from this group. Even though they have lost Cristiano Ronaldo, they have enough firepower to conquer the others. The second qualifier from this group will be tough to predict. Wolfsburg, Besiktas and CSKA are all strong contender and it could be down to the last couple of matches before we come to know who it is going to be.

Group C – This group looks well set to send Real Madrid and AC Milan through to the next round. These two have a total of 14 Champions League (formerly European Cup) trophies between them and even though Olympique Marseilles can pose a challenge or two, it looks highly unlikely that they will be able to stop Real and Milan. There is simply too much pedigree here. FC Zurich, will, in all probability, occupy the bottom place in the group.

Group D – Chelsea look all set to occupy the top spot in this group. Porto and Atletico will fight for the other qualifying spot. It is very difficult to say who will come on top. Porto have more Champions League pedigree than Atletico and that might be just enough to see them through. Apoel Nicosia don’t look good enough to pose a strong enough challenge and they would be happy with a couple of home draws.

Group E – This group will again be a three horse race. Fiorentina have the capability to make it through provided they are able to believe in themselves. Olympique Lyonnais have been performing consistently in the Champions League for the past few years and they have had some very good results to show for their efforts. Liverpool are of course the 4 times Champions League winners and they will be the favourites to go through from this group. Debrecen will stay at the bottom of the group. This is their first time in this competition and not much is expected of them.

Group F – Defending champions Barcelona and Inter Milan will go through, barring an unprecedented mishap. Kiev and Rubin Kazan will fight for the 3rd and 4th places.

Group G – This is the group where the slightly lesser known teams have a great chance to make it to the next round. Stuttgart, Sevilla and Rangers – all have an equal chance to make it through. Unirea Urziceni are not expected to cause more than a ripple.

Group H – This group will have Arsenal go through for sure. They have already played some superb football this season. Olympiakos may just pip AZ Alkmaar and Standard Liege to the post.

English Premier League – 4 in a row for Man U?

The English Premier League has started amid all the usual fanfare. The biggest question on everyone’s mind is whether Manchester United will be able to win 4 titles in a row. No team has done it in the Premier League so far and if it happens, it will be an unbelievable performance from the Red Devils.

The main challenge to Manchester United will come from Chelsea. Chelsea have a perfect records after 4 games in the 2009-2010 English Premier League and they are sitting pretty at the top. They have already scored 10 goals this season and have conceded only 2. Didier Drogba is already looking lethal and has scored 3 goals. The good news for Chelsea is that Michael Ballack and Nicolas Anelka are also looking in good form and have netted 2 apiece.

The surprise package in this season’s English Premier League has been Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs also have a perfect record after 4 games and are only behind Chelsea on goal difference. Jermain Defoe has been in spectacular form and has scored 4 goals already. Spurs have already defeated Liverpool this season and will be looking to take on the rest of the Big 4s with confidence. Their next game is a home game against the defending champions and it will be a cracker of a match.

Arsenal had a splendid start to the season and they pumped in 10 goals in their first 2 matches. They had an unfortunate loss against Manchester United at Old Trafford after they took the league. The good news for the Gunners is that they have a number of players who have scored and they don’t have problems upfront. Arsene Wenger looks in control and it is highly possible that Arsenal will go on and win the English Premier League this season.

Liverpool have been a mixed bag. They lost their opening match against the Spurs and then again lost to Aston Villa at home. Liverpool lost the last season of English Premier League when they were looking well on their way to win their first title in 18 years. Many tipped them to win this year and many of those many have already written them off after 4 games where they have won 2 and lost 2.

The big ripples in this season’s English Premier League have been all created by the blue side of Manchester. Manchester City have been bolstered by some big name signings thanks to some heavy financing from the Middle East. Their biggest signings were Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal and Carlos Tevez from Manchester United, the latter involving a lot of controversy. Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has promised to paint Manchester blue at the end of this season and it looks a definite possibility after his team has won all their first 3 matches and are yet to concede a goal.

All these clubs are going to pose a big challenge for Manchester United in their bid to win their 4th English Premier League title in a row. They have been put back by the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, a loss that is surely going to hurt them. On top of that, Nemanja Vidic and Owen Hargreaves have been unavailable. Michael Owen has hardly looked his former self as yet. The bright spark has been provided by Wayne Rooney. Rooney seems to have found a new calling and is the current joint top scorer in the league. He has been in superb form. Early indications are definitely there that Manchester United are capable of winning their 4th in a row English Premier League.

FA Cup – The demand to win continues

Last year’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Everton at the Wembley was a memorable game. Louis Saha scored the fastest goal in an FA Cup final, only to see Didier Drogba equalize in the 21st minute and then Frank Lampard net the winner for the London club in the 72nd minute. It was heartbreaking for Everton who had last won the cup in 1995 but pure joy for Chelsea who repeated their feat of 2007.

FA Cup, as we all know is the world’s oldest cup competition and started way back in 1872. This year, it will be 129th edition of the tournament. As a result, the demand to win the Cup is immense. Every team wants to have their hands on the iconic trophy. Manchester United have won the FA Cup the maximum number of times. They have 11 wins to their credit, followed by Arsenal with 10 wins and Tottenham Hotspur with 8 wins.

The best thing about the FA Cup is that teams from all the divisions get to compete with each other. The last few editions of the cup have seen some barely known clubs take on the might of the big teams and even defeat them eventually. The beauty of the competition is that the draws are not made before the previous round is over. So, there is always a scope for speculation and that drives clubs and fans crazy. The Extra Preliminary Round is already over and the FA Cup Preliminary Round is on at the moment. The first round qualifying will start from 12th September. The Premier League teams will start participating from Third Round Proper that is scheduled to start from 2nd January 2010.

Over the years, the prize money for the FA Cup has increased step by step. This season’s FA Cup champions stand win a massive £ 2 million and the runners up will go home richer by a million pounds. So, there is big money at stake and no club can choose to ignore this trophy, due to the amount of money involved, apart from the glory of winning the FA Cup. A total of 762 clubs entered their names for this year’s FA Cup and at the end of the Preliminary round, 392 of them will be left. The final is scheduled to be held on 15th May 2010 and the winner will qualify for the 2010-2011 UEFA Europa League play off round.

The latest news about the FA Cup is that the Football Association is looking for a new sponsor after E.ON decided not to renew their sponsorship after the current season. E.ON has been sponsoring the FA Cup since 2006 and the FA has earned £ 32 million from the 4 year deal. The FA top bosses are confident of attracting some big names as the sponsors of the tournament as the glory and market value of the FA Cup remains high. However, FA is still looking for a deal for its TV rights after Setanta collapsed.

It is still very early to predict who is going to win the current season of the FA Cup. Chelsea have shown in the past few seasons that they are quite a force in English domestic cup finals and they will be a force to reckon with this year and will be expected to defend their title. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal will be the other top challengers. Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur could also provide a solid challenge.

The FA Cup will warm over come 2nd January 2010 and let us wait and watch what happens then.

Scottish Premier League – Same old story

Ever since the Scottish Premier League came into being, only 2 clubs have ever won it. Celtics have won it 6 times while the Rangers have managed 5 titles. So, the Scottish Premier League title has never left the city of Glasgow. The story is no different this year. After 2 games in the 2009-2010 edition of the Scottish Premier League, Rangers and Celtics are at the top, with 3 victories in as many matches. Rangers are ahead on Goal difference.

The Scottish Premier League is currently known as the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and as usual, this year’s edition features the 12 top clubs from across Scotland. The teams that are contesting the 2009-2010 Scottish Premier League are – Aberdeen, Dundee United, Falkirk, Glasgow Celtics, Glasgow Rangers, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, St. Johnstone and St. Mirren. While St. Johnstone have been promoted from the First Division, Inverness CT have been relegated.

Glasgow Rangers were the first winners of the Scottish Premier League when they won in 1998-1999. They repeated the feat next season. The 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons saw Glasgow Celtics keep the trophy at Celtic Park. The Rangers again won in 2002-2003 while the Celtics won the trophy back in 2003-2004. The Rangers again won in 2004-2005. For the next 3 seasons, Celtics managed to win the Scottish Premier League. It was only in the last season that the Rangers got their hands back on the trophy. The astonishing part about the Scottish Premier League is the fact that except in 2005-2006, Rangers and Celtics have been runners up if they have not won the league. Heart of Midlothian were the runners up in 2005-2006.

The Scottish Premier League has an unusual format. Each team plays against every other team 3 times. 3 points are awarded for a win and 1 point for a draw. There are no points for losing a game. After all the teams have played 33 games apiece, they are then divided into the “top 6” and “bottom 6” category where they play 1 match against every club in their category. At the end of 38 matches, the team with the highest number of points wins the Scottish Premier League. If two teams have the same number of points, then the league winner is decided on the basis of goal difference. The third qualifying criterion, if needed at all, is goals scored.

The winners of this season’s Scottish Premier League will automatically qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League. The runners up will play the Champions League qualifying round and the 3rd and the 4th placed teams will be eligible for the UEFA Europa League. Being last yea’s champions, Rangers have qualified for the 2009-2010 season of the UEFA Champions League and have been put into the same group with VfB Stuttgart, Sevilla FC and Unirea Urziceni. Celtics were defeated by Arsenal in the last qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and will now play in the UEFA Europa League. They are in the same group as Hamburger SV, Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC and SK Rapid Wien.

Last season saw Rangers score 86 points and win the Scottish Premier League by 4 points. Celtics were going well even during the mid season and they were finally defeated by the Rangers on the last day of the season. Rangers and Celtics share a fierce rivalry and their matches are considered among the best derby matches of all times. The Scottish Premier League is watched by more people (per capita) in Scotland than any other European League and like previous years, this year too most of them will support either the Rangers or the Celtics.