European Info Page (Updated 28/06, 11.28)
The Champions League pots are well known now and can be found on this fantastic website http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seedcl2008.html
At the turn of the year, this page will once again begin to predict the make-up of the 2009/2010 Champions League pots.
For 2009/2010 the Champions League will change. There will be a guarantee of 17 champions in the group stages. This is good news for the SPL winners but extremely bad news for the runners up due to the new qualification competition.
The champions of the top 12 nations (see table on right hand side) will see their champions automatically qualify for the group stages. Scotland are in this top 12 for the 2009/10 season so next season's winners will also qualify directly for the group stages.
For the SPL runner-up however, a far tougher qualifying system has been brought in. They will have to negotiate two qualifying rounds but against tougher opposition than in the past. There are 2 seperate qualifying tournaments. One involves the champions of the 13th ranked country (Belgium) downwards to ensure the quota of 17 champions is met. The other is the tournament the SPL runners up will be involved in.
NEW QUALIFYING EVENT FROM 2009
Qualifying Round 2 (10 teams)
Russia (3rd place)
Romania (runner up)
Portugal (runner up)
Netherlands (runner-up)
Scotland (runner up)
Turkey (runner up)
Ukraine (runner up)
Belgium (runner up)
Greece (runner up)
Czech Rep. (runner up)
Qualifying Round 3 (10 teams)
5 winners from round 2
PLUS
England (4th place)
Spain (4th place)
Italy (4th place)
France (3rd place)
Germany (3rd place)
Important Dates
Draw for group stages - August 28th
1st Match - September 16th/17th
Sources:
Bert Kassies UEFA Football Pages http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/index.html
BBC European Tables: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/default.stm
any questions, info or comments? email contact@celticstats.co.uk
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