UEFA Champions League 2009–10

The UEFA Champions League 2009-10 will be the 55th edition of the European Club Championship football tournament and the first edition under the latest qualifying format. The final will be played on May 22, 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home ground of Real Madrid, in Madrid, Spain. [cite news|url=http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=676743.html|title=Madrid and Hamburg awarded 2010 finals|publisher=UEFA|date=2008-03-28|accessdate=2008-03-28] This year's tournament will be the first to feature a Saturday night final.

tadium for the final

The final itself will be the seventh time the UEFA Champions League Final has been held in Spain and the fourth time it is to be held at the Bernabéu. The previous three finals held there were:

*1957 - Real Madrid 2–0 Fiorentina
*1969 - Milan 4–1 Ajax
*1980 - Nottingham Forest 1–0 Hamburg

Association team allocation

A total of 76 teams will participate in the 2009-2010 Champions League, from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organizes no domestic league competition). Countries are allocated places according to their UEFA league co-efficient.

The Champions League title holder 2008-09 will be guaranteed a place in the group stage, even if they do not obtain a qualifying place through their domestic league. They will do this at the expense of their association's lowest placed qualifier, who will join the UEFA cup as a result.

The allocation system may change slightly depending on the title holder's domestic placing.

Preliminary list of UEFA Country Ranking for 2009-2010 season can be found at [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2008.html Bert Kassies' website] . The UEFA ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next, not in the first season after the publication of the ranking. Thus, the 2008 ranking determines the proportion in 2009–10, not 2008–09.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2009-2010 Champions League:

*Associations 1-3 each have 4 teams qualify
*Associations 4-6 each have 3 teams qualify
*Associations 7-15 each have 2 teams qualify
*Associations 16-53 each have 1 team qualify (excluding Liechtenstein)

Preliminary qualifying round
*6 champions from associations 48-53

First qualifying round
*3 winners from the preliminary qualifying round
*31 champions from associations 16-47 (excluding Liechtenstein)

Second qualifying round for champions
*17 winners from the first qualifying round
*3 champions from associations 13-15

Third qualifying round for champions
*10 winners from the second qualifying round for champions

Second qualifying round for non-champions
*Runners-up from associations 7-15
*3rd placed team from association 6

Third qualifying round for non-champions
*5 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions
*3rd placed teams from associations 4 and 5
*4th placed teams from associations 1-3

Group stage: (32 teams)
*5 winners from the third qualifying round for champions
*5 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
*1st, 2nd and 3rd placed teams from associations 1-3
*1st and 2nd placed teams from associations 4-6
*1st placed teams from associations 7-12
*defending champion (if the defending champions has qualified for the UEFA Champions League, then another team, from the third qualifying round, will take the defending champion's spot)

Qualifying rounds

In a new system for the Champions League, there will be two separate qualifying tournaments. One will be for the Champion clubs who did not automatically qualify for the group stage. The other is for teams who did not win their domestic league and did not automatically qualify for the group stage.

For both sections, the losing teams from the 2nd round will enter the UEFA Europa League 4th qualifying round and the losing teams from the 3rd round will enter the UEFA Europa League group stage.

Champions Qualifying

Preliminary qualifying round

The following teams are expected to compete in the preliminary qualifying round:Seeded Teams
*flagicon|Faroe Islands Champions of Formuladeildin 2008
*flagicon|Luxembourg Champions of Luxembourg National Division 2008-09
*flagicon|Montenegro Champions of Montenegrin First League 2008-09Unseeded Teams
*flagicon|Malta Champions of Maltese Premier League 2008-09
*flagicon|Andorra Champions of Primera Divisió 2008-09
*flagicon|San Marino Champions of Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio 2008-09

First qualifying round

The following teams are expected to enter in the First Qualifying Round, joined by the 3 winners of the preliminary round:
*flagicon|Switzerland Champions of Swiss Super League 2008-09
*flagicon|BUL Champions of A PFG 2008-09
*flagicon|NOR Champions of Norwegian Premier League 2008
*flagicon|DEN Champions of Danish Superliga 2008-09
*flagicon|SRB Champions of Serbian Superliga 2008-09
*flagicon|AUT Champions of Austrian Football Bundesliga 2008-09
*flagicon|ISR Champions of Ligat ha'Al 2008-09
*flagicon|Sweden Champions of Allsvenskan 2008
*flagicon|Slovakia Champions of Slovak Superliga 2008-09
*flagicon|HUN Champions of Hungarian National Championship I 2008-09
*flagicon|POL Champions of Ekstraklasa 2008-09
*flagicon|Croatia Champions of Prva HNL 2008-09
*flagicon|Cyprus Champions of Cypriot First Division 2008-09
*flagicon|Slovenia Champions of Slovenian PrvaLiga 2008-09
*flagicon|Finland Champions of Veikkausliiga 2008
*flagicon|Latvia Champions of Virslīga 2008
*flagicon|Bosnia and Herzegovina Champions of Premijer Liga 2008-09
*flagicon|Lithuania Champions of A Lyga 2008
*flagicon|Ireland Bohemians
*flagicon|Moldova Champions of Divizia Naţională 2008-09
*flagicon|Macedonia Champions of Macedonian Prva Liga 2008-09
*flagicon|Iceland FH Hafnarfjörður
*flagicon|Georgia Champions of Umaglesi Liga 2008-09
*flagicon|Belarus Champions of Vysshaja Liga 2008
*flagicon|Estonia Champions of Meistriliiga 2008
*flagicon|Azerbaijan Champions of Azerbaijan Premier League 2008-09
*flagicon|Albania Champions of Kategoria superiore 2008-09
*flagicon|Armenia Champions of Armenian Premier League 2008
*flagicon|Kazakhstan Champions of Kazakhstan Premier League 2008
*flagicon|Northern Ireland Champions of Irish Premier League 2008-09
*flagicon|Wales Champions of League of Wales 2008-09

Second qualifying round for Champions

The following teams are expected to enter in the Second Qualifying Round, joined by the 17 winners of the First Qualifying Round:
*flagicon|BEL Champions of Belgian First Division 2008-09
*flagicon|GRE Champions of Super League Greece 2008-09
*flagicon|CZE Champions of Gambrinus liga 2008-09

Third qualifying round for Champions

The 10 winners of the Second Qualifying Round will compete in the Third Qualifying Round for Champions.

Non-Champions Qualifying

Second qualifying round for Non-Champions

The following teams are expected to compete in the Second Qualifying Round for Non-Champions:
*flagicon|RUS 3rd placed team of Russian Premier League 2008
*flagicon|ROM Runners-up of Liga I 2008-09
*flagicon|POR Runners-up of Portuguese Liga 2008-09
*flagicon|NED Runners-up of Eredivisie 2008-09
*flagicon|SCO Runners-up of Scottish Premier League 2008-09
*flagicon|TUR Runners-up of Süper Lig 2008-09
*flagicon|UKR Runners-up of Ukrainian Premier League 2008-09
*flagicon|BEL Runners-up of Belgian First Division 2008-09
*flagicon|GRE Winners of the Playoff Group in Super League Greece 2008-09
*flagicon|CZE Runners-up of Gambrinus liga 2008-09

Third qualifying round for Non-Champions

The following teams are expected to enter in the Third Qualifying Round, joined by the 5 winners of the Second Qualifying Round for Non-Champions:
*flagicon|ENG 4th placed team of Premier League 2008–09
*flagicon|ESP 4th placed team of La Liga 2008–09
*flagicon|ITA 4th placed team of Serie A 2008–09
*flagicon|FRA 3rd placed team of Ligue 1 2008–09
*flagicon|GER 3rd placed team of Fußball-Bundesliga 2008–09

Group stage

The following teams are expected to compete, along with all 10 winners of the Third qualifying round (5 champions + 5 non-champions), in the group stage of the Champions League:
*flagicon|EUR Defending champion
*flagicon|ENG Champions of English Premier League 2008–09
*flagicon|ENG Runners-up of English Premier League 2008–09
*flagicon|ENG 3rd placed team of English Premier League 2008–09
*flagicon|ESP Champions of La Liga 2008–09
*flagicon|ESP Runners-up of La Liga 2008–09
*flagicon|ESP 3rd placed team of La Liga 2008–09
*flagicon|ITA Champions of Serie A 2008–09
*flagicon|ITA Runners-up of Serie A 2008–09
*flagicon|ITA 3rd placed team of Serie A 2008–09
*flagicon|FRA Champions of Ligue 1 2008–09
*flagicon|FRA Runners-up of Ligue 1 2008–09
*flagicon|GER Champions of Fußball-Bundesliga 2008–09
*flagicon|GER Runners-up of Fußball-Bundesliga 2008–09
*flagicon|RUS Champions of Russian Premier League 2008
*flagicon|RUS Runners-up of Russian Premier League 2008
*flagicon|ROM Champions of Liga I 2008–09
*flagicon|POR Champions of Portuguese Liga 2008–09
*flagicon|NED Champions of Eredivisie 2008–09
*flagicon|SCO Champions of Scottish Premier League 2008–09
*flagicon|TUR Champions of Süper Lig 2008–09
*flagicon|UKR Champions of Ukrainian Premier League 2008–09

The total of 32 teams will be drawn into 8 groups of 4. Each team will play the others in its group twice. The top 2 in each group will proceed to the knockout stages, and the 3rd placed teams will enter the UEFA Europa League Round of 32

ee also

* UEFA Europa League 2009–10

References

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/nj/sivritepe/0708/ucups0912.pdf UEFA Access List]