The draw for this season's European Cup (aka Champions League) took place in tiny Monaco today, and the British clubs will be breathing a sigh of release.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Rangers were handed relatively easy teams in their groups.
The English teams - Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea - will also be relieved that none of them were drawn into the same group as Scottish champions Rangers, after hundreds of Rangers fans caused violence in Manchester city centre after the 2008 UEFA Cup Final in which they lost against St Petersburg.
For the draw, the 32 teams were divided into four pots - A, B, C, D - each consisting of 8 teams.
Pot A consisted of the highest seeded teams, Pot B consisted of the second highest seeded teams, Pot C consisted of the second lowest seeded teams and Pot D consisted of the lowest seeded teams.
England was the only nation to have all of its teams in Pot A, due to English teams' domination of the tournament in recent years.
Seedings are determined by the national co-efficient of each league (the English league currently ranked as Europe's No1) and by the results of each team in the Champions League over the last 5 years.
At least one English team has been in every Champions League Final since 2005.
No teams from the same pot can be drawn against each other (each group must contain a team from each pot), and no teams from the same national league can be drawn against each other.
Alongside Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in Pot A were Bayern Munich, Sevilla, AC Milan and last season's winners Barcelona.
Scottish champions Rangers were in Pot B.
Pot D consisted mainly of teams who will play in what will be their first ever participation in the Champions League, including Wolfsburg (who won Germany's Bundesliga for the first time ever last season), Rubin Kazan of Russia, Unirea Urziceni of Romania, Debrecen of Hungary, APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.
UEFA have recently changed the rules of the qualifying rounds to make it easier for smaller teams from places such as the wilds of Eastern Europe, etc, to qualify for the Champions League, which can only be a good thing.
Manchester Utd will face CSKA Moscow, Besiktas (of Istanbul) and Wolfsburg.
Liverpool have been drawn in the same group as Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen.
Chelsea will play Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.
Arsenal must play AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos (of Athens) and Standard Liege.
And Rangers will play Sevilla, Stuttgart and Unirea Uriceni.
The tournament starts on 15th September, with every team hoping to make the long journey to the Final in Madrid on 22nd May 2010.
British clubs avoid Euro giants
Scottish champions Rangers were not drawn against any of the four seeded English clubs
The five British clubs in the Champions League were handed favourable draws for the group stage of the competition.
Last season's finalists Manchester United take on CSKA Moscow, Besiktas and Wolfsburg in Group B.
Liverpool face Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen while Chelsea play Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.
Barcelona won last season's Champions League, beating the 2008 winners Manchester United in the Final in May, and previously won it in 1992 and 2006. They will play Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev and Russian new boys Rubin Kazan in Group F.
Arsenal have been drawn against AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Standard Liege, while Rangers will play Sevilla, Stuttgart and Unirea Urziceni.
The four English clubs were all in pot one - and avoided Real Madrid and Inter Milan in pot two.
Big-spending Real Madrid have been drawn in Group C, along with AC Milan, Marseille and Zurich.
Chelsea were defeated last season by an injury-time Andres Iniesta goal in their semi-final against eventual champions Barcelona.
"We start again and are always looking to get one step further," said Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon after Thursday's draw in Monaco.
Romanian minnows Unirea Uriceni are one of the teams making their first Champions League appearance. They will play Stuttgart, Sevilla and Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers in Group G.
"There are no easy games or groups but overall not too much travel and we have managed to avoid one of the big ones."
Rangers, in pot two, could have faced any of the English clubs but appear to have been handed a relatively favourable draw that includes the unknown quantity of Romania's Unirea Urziceni.
The Romanian side, along with Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege, Debrecen, APOEL Nicosia and FC Zurich, make their Champions League debut in this year's tournament.
There are 32 teams in the competition, split into eight groups of four, with the first matches to be played on 15/16 September.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers all reached the first round automatically, while Arsenal eased to a 5-1 aggregate victory over Celtic in qualifying to clinch their place in the lucrative stages of Europe's premier competition.
The eight group winners plus the runners-up go through to the knockout stages of the competition, while the teams finishing third go into the Europa League.
Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium will stage the Champions League final on Saturday, 22 May 2010.
Champions League group stage draw:
Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa
Group B
MANCHESTER UNITED
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg
Group C
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich
Group D
CHELSEA
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL Nicosia
Group E
LIVERPOOL
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen
Group F
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dinamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan
Group G
Sevilla
RANGERS
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni
Group H
ARSENAL
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege
Fixture dates:
15/16 September
29/30 September
20/21 October
3/4 November
24/25 November
8/9 December
news.bbc.co.uk/sport
Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Rangers were handed relatively easy teams in their groups.
The English teams - Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea - will also be relieved that none of them were drawn into the same group as Scottish champions Rangers, after hundreds of Rangers fans caused violence in Manchester city centre after the 2008 UEFA Cup Final in which they lost against St Petersburg.
For the draw, the 32 teams were divided into four pots - A, B, C, D - each consisting of 8 teams.
Pot A consisted of the highest seeded teams, Pot B consisted of the second highest seeded teams, Pot C consisted of the second lowest seeded teams and Pot D consisted of the lowest seeded teams.
England was the only nation to have all of its teams in Pot A, due to English teams' domination of the tournament in recent years.
Seedings are determined by the national co-efficient of each league (the English league currently ranked as Europe's No1) and by the results of each team in the Champions League over the last 5 years.
At least one English team has been in every Champions League Final since 2005.
No teams from the same pot can be drawn against each other (each group must contain a team from each pot), and no teams from the same national league can be drawn against each other.
Alongside Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in Pot A were Bayern Munich, Sevilla, AC Milan and last season's winners Barcelona.
Scottish champions Rangers were in Pot B.
Pot D consisted mainly of teams who will play in what will be their first ever participation in the Champions League, including Wolfsburg (who won Germany's Bundesliga for the first time ever last season), Rubin Kazan of Russia, Unirea Urziceni of Romania, Debrecen of Hungary, APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.
UEFA have recently changed the rules of the qualifying rounds to make it easier for smaller teams from places such as the wilds of Eastern Europe, etc, to qualify for the Champions League, which can only be a good thing.
Manchester Utd will face CSKA Moscow, Besiktas (of Istanbul) and Wolfsburg.
Liverpool have been drawn in the same group as Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen.
Chelsea will play Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.
Arsenal must play AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos (of Athens) and Standard Liege.
And Rangers will play Sevilla, Stuttgart and Unirea Uriceni.
The tournament starts on 15th September, with every team hoping to make the long journey to the Final in Madrid on 22nd May 2010.
British clubs avoid Euro giants
Scottish champions Rangers were not drawn against any of the four seeded English clubs
The five British clubs in the Champions League were handed favourable draws for the group stage of the competition.
Last season's finalists Manchester United take on CSKA Moscow, Besiktas and Wolfsburg in Group B.
Liverpool face Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen while Chelsea play Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.
Barcelona won last season's Champions League, beating the 2008 winners Manchester United in the Final in May, and previously won it in 1992 and 2006. They will play Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev and Russian new boys Rubin Kazan in Group F.
Arsenal have been drawn against AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Standard Liege, while Rangers will play Sevilla, Stuttgart and Unirea Urziceni.
The four English clubs were all in pot one - and avoided Real Madrid and Inter Milan in pot two.
Big-spending Real Madrid have been drawn in Group C, along with AC Milan, Marseille and Zurich.
Chelsea were defeated last season by an injury-time Andres Iniesta goal in their semi-final against eventual champions Barcelona.
"We start again and are always looking to get one step further," said Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon after Thursday's draw in Monaco.
Romanian minnows Unirea Uriceni are one of the teams making their first Champions League appearance. They will play Stuttgart, Sevilla and Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers in Group G.
"There are no easy games or groups but overall not too much travel and we have managed to avoid one of the big ones."
Rangers, in pot two, could have faced any of the English clubs but appear to have been handed a relatively favourable draw that includes the unknown quantity of Romania's Unirea Urziceni.
The Romanian side, along with Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege, Debrecen, APOEL Nicosia and FC Zurich, make their Champions League debut in this year's tournament.
There are 32 teams in the competition, split into eight groups of four, with the first matches to be played on 15/16 September.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers all reached the first round automatically, while Arsenal eased to a 5-1 aggregate victory over Celtic in qualifying to clinch their place in the lucrative stages of Europe's premier competition.
The eight group winners plus the runners-up go through to the knockout stages of the competition, while the teams finishing third go into the Europa League.
Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium will stage the Champions League final on Saturday, 22 May 2010.
Champions League group stage draw:
Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa
Group B
MANCHESTER UNITED
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg
Group C
AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich
Group D
CHELSEA
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL Nicosia
Group E
LIVERPOOL
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen
Group F
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dinamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan
Group G
Sevilla
RANGERS
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni
Group H
ARSENAL
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege
Fixture dates:
15/16 September
29/30 September
20/21 October
3/4 November
24/25 November
8/9 December
news.bbc.co.uk/sport
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