For over half a century, the UEFA Champions League is the championship that European teams aspire to win. Although the modern competition has been competed for since 1992, the competition in its previous format has been played for each year since 1955. It has become known worldwide as one of the most prestigious trophy competitions in world football.

The three knockout stages begin in mid July. These knockout stages yield sixteen teams who then go through to join sixteen seeded teams in group stages consisting of eight groups of four teams. Eight group winners and eight runners up compete in the knockout stages until the final is played in May. Twenty one different clubs have won the competition. Of these, twelve have won the Champions League more than once. Real Madrid hold the record for the most wins. Milan follow with seven wins. Liverpool are the most successful British club with five wins.

The first season of the competition saw Real Madrid beat Stade de Reims 4-3 in Paris. Real Madrid dominated the competition in the first five seasons culminating in the 1960 final in Glasgow against Eintracht Frankfurt which Real Madrid won 7-3, and despite the scoreline, Eintracht played their part in a memorable game.

The first British success came in 1967 when Celtic beat Internazionale 2-1 in Lisbon. This was followed in the following year by a famous victory at Wembley by Manchester United over Benfica. United won 4-1 ten years after the tragic Munich air disaster which cruelly deprived Manchester United of some young talented players. Dutch football teams dominated the competition for the next five years followed by the emergence of a great Bayern Munich side which claimed the cup over the next three seasons. English teams followed the Bayern lead and took control of the competition for the next five years with Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa all taking the trophy. Since the mid 1980s, no country has managed to put together a run of wins, but the big names of European football have all been represented on the winners rostrum; AC Milan, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid again. Manchester United had already won the Premiership title in England, but seemed to be losing their final in Barcelona in 1999 when two inspired substitutions by Sir Alex Ferguson saw United turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win with almost the last kick of the game. Recent competitions again have failed to throw up a dominant country.

This year Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have all made their way to the knockout stages of the competition and have mirrored recent European success for English teams. The final will be played in Rome on 27th May 2009, and although English teams would hope to feature in the final, there can be no guarantees as the European Champions League provides surprises and great football. For more European Champions League news go to Hotels near Chelsea.

The story that generated the most headlines outside of the Kaka to Manchester City, was the saga of Robbie Keane’s departure from Liverpool back to Tottenham. Keane made his “dream move” to Liverpool this past summer when the club splashed out an initial £19m to buy his services from Tottenham Hotspur. After failing to win a regular starting place under Rafa Benitez, Keane has signed a four-year contract at Spurs with the fee starting at £12m and rising with add-ons. Keane managed to score just five goals in 19 appearances for Liverpool. The transfer would appear to be a good move for Tottenham, as another recent returnee, striker Jermain Defoe, will be out of action until April because of a foot injury he picked up in training.

The club also did some work to address the areas I felt need strengthening — defence and central midfield. They acquired some help at the back in yet another former player, Pascal Chimbonda, who left Sunderland and apparently took a pay cut to return to Spurs. The central midfielder they purchased, Wilson Palacios, is another creative type and I’m still not sure if he’s what they need. Palacios is a nice player, very creative but I’m not convinced he’ll add the graft they need in central midfield.

Spurs also picked up Carlo Cudicini to give manager Harry Redknapp another experienced choice for tge goalkeeper position. Chelsea allowed him to move on a free transfer, and thanked the Italian “for his years of service and wish him well”. The 35-year-old was Chelsea’s second-longest serving player behind John Terry, having joined the club from ASD Castel di Sangro Calcio in 1999 when the London side were still coached by fellow Italian Gianluca Vialli. Cudicini was Chelsea’s 2002 Player of the Year and was first choice for several years prior to Petr Cech’s arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2004.

Tottenham are still near the foot of the Premier League in 14th place, but are just one point clear of the bottom three with 14 Premier League fixtures remaining. They are still involved in UEFA Cup play (with a Round of 32 tie against Shakhtar Donetsk slated for Feb 19th and 26th) and have a Carling Cup final date against Manchester United at Wembley on March 1st. The returning Keane will not be eligible for that match because he is cup-tied.

Tottenham’s spending spree helped push Premier League clubs total outlay to a record £178m in this January transfer window, compared with £146m in 2008, £63m in 2007 and only £35m when the system was introduced in 2003. Credit crunch? What credit crunch?

Coming in a close second in generating the most stories was the prolonged transfer of Andrey Arshavin from Zenit St. Petersburg to Arsenal. The on-again, off-again move was finally completed 24 hours after the actual closing of the transfer window. The move to Arsenal is important for several reasons. First, they are in the midst of a battle for a top-four spot and a berth into the Champions League. Secondly, the club has been lacking some creativity in the midfield and Arshavin has shown himself to be a world-class player through his displays in the UEFA Cup and at Euro 2008. Lastly, the reported £16 or 17m fee dispels the myth that Arsene Wenger is unwilling to spend money in the transfer market. He has long maintained that he would only spend big money on an actual star-caliber player. The 27-year-old playmaker has claimed the vacant No 23 shirt.

A strange move, at least strange to me, was Julien Faubert’s leaving West Ham United FC on a loan to Real Madrid CF until the end of the season. The versatile 25-year-old Frenchman had filled in at right-back as well as on the right side of midfield for West Ham and will give Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos options on the right side. Madrid have the option of buying him outright in June though no fee was disclosed. The move is strange for me, not that Faubert is not good enough to be a Real Madrid player, though some might question that, but rather that West Ham would be willing to part ways with him. He seemed to be a useful player to have around but the BBC reports that Real will pay a £1.5m fee for the loan, which may be all the explanation needed. West Ham are reportedly tight for funds and the fee + future transfer funds was obviously too tempting. Faubert has been given the No. 18 jersey, a number that he inherits from Ruben de la Red, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of his heart problems.

In another bit of related news, Real Madrid had to choose between new signings for their Champions League squad as UEFA rules that state only one player can be registered who has already played in a UEFA competition with another club this season. Real Madrid decided to select midfielder Lassana Diarra to play in the Champions League knockout stages and not striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Real, who face Liverpool in the Champions League last 16, had argued that the rule was discriminatory, pointing to players who can play in two European competitions when their clubs drop from the Champions League into the UEFA Cup. Huntelaar and Diarra have already played in the UEFA Cup this season for Ajax and Portsmouth respectively.

Chelsea have secured the loan signing of Ricardo Quaresma from Internazionale after the Portugal international winger was left out of the club’s squad for the knock-out phase of the Champions League by manager Jose Mourinho. Quaresma has worked with Luiz Felipe Scolari with the Portuguese national team and will look to get some confidence back after being labelled as a ‘flop’ by Inter fans. He was heckled during recent matches after failing to make the desired impact at the San Siro since joining from Porto for around £15m last summer. Worringly, the Portuguese’s spell in Italy mirrored the one he endured at Barcelona in his one season at the Catalan club and there will now be questions about his ability to “step up to the big time”.

With only three places left in the next round of this seasons Champions League and with only five teams capable of filling those spots it seems like a good time to look ahead to the draw for the knockout stages.

Once again all four English sides look set to qualify for the next round, with only Chelsea yet to confirm their place with the Blues needing a victory over Cluj in the last match to make sure. However that would seem to be a formality (famous last words!) and along with La Liga the Premier League will once again be the dominant force in the knock-out stages.

With the last four finals being contested by English sides the teams from the Premier League have become the ones to avoid and once again this season won’t be any different.

Whilst there have been a couple of impressive performances by the English sides, Arsenal’s 5-2 win in Fenerbache being the standout one, all four look like they will qualify at a canter. In truth only Chelsea have been really tested in qualifying for the next round, that mainly coming from their trip to Rome.

We have already seen Liverpool and Manchester United up against the other big force in the Champions League, the Spanish sides, and really in all four games the English sides should have taken all three points.

The only side capable of challenging the Premier Leagues dominance of Europe will be Barcelona. The Catalan giants have been in remarkable form this season, destroying all of those in front of them and if you are drawn against Pep Guardiola’s side in the knock-out stages then good luck!

Barcelona looked a shade of the side you might have expected when they took on Manchester United last season but with Lionel Messi leading the way the Premier League sides will be wary. Apart from Barca though there doesn’t look to be any series contenders to the English dominance.

Looking through Europe you still have the big names in the next round, such as Inter Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Lyon but not even these sides look good enough to upset the football odds and claim Manchester United’s crown.

Despite all four sides leading their respective leagues, or being in second place, and having on paper the quality to challenge for the Champions League you just can’t see it happening. Inter and Juventus play in a league where the quality of football is dreadful amongst the sides outside of the top seven. Bayern Munich still have a good side on paper with Franck Ribery, Miroslav Klose and Bastien Schweinsteiger good enough to walk into any side. However they aren’t playing like a team, with disjointed performances being a hallmark of their season. As for Lyon they will probably walk the French league again but once again there resilience on Juninho means if he doesn’t play well they will crumble.

All four are good sides and there are more teams left in this seasons competition that you would group in that category but they aren’t great like United where last season. I don’t believe them to even be good enough to upset Chelsea (if they make it), Liverpool and Arsenal.

How the tide has turned from ten years ago when those English sides left in the competition would be wary of whoever they drew in the knock-out stages. Whoever the Premier League sides draw I would expect them to all go through to the quarter finals and I wouldn’t be surprised to see two or three sides make up the semi-finals as well with the winners once again coming from Premier League.

There are some pivotal battles to be fought in the upcoming Matchday and while some groups look to have clear patterns emerging, others could go down to the wire. Let’s take a whirlwind tour of the current state of the groups along with my speculations on the ties on Matchday 5.

Group A
A win for Chelsea over Bordeaux will take them through, regardless of the result between second place AS Roma and bottom club CFR 1907 Cluj. Roma and Bordeaux are currently tied on points with Roma holding the edge on goal differential. Chelsea hammered Bordeaux 4-0 on Matchday 1 but I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of that scoreline. I still see Chelsea winning but perhaps only by a single goal. A draw would be a good result for Bordeaux and would keep their hopes alive. Top through bottom is seperated by only three points in this group so Cluj can still make things uneasy for everyone with a win over Roma at home. Roma played well against an uninspired Chelsea side on Matchday 4 and will hope to keep the momentum going. I’m going to go for a draw in this match. I think Cluj will come out with an inspired performance.

Group B
Leaders Internazionale can advance with either a victory or a draw at home to Panathinaikos. Inter could even advance if they lose should there be a draw between Anorthosis Famagusta and Werder Bremen. The suprising Anorthosis side can achieve a knockout round spot if they win and Inter do likewise. Werder Bremen must win in order to keep their hopes alive. I wouldn’t bet on Bremen to get a win in Cyprus considering their up and down form this season.

Group C:
The main business is complete: Barcelona and Sporting are both through to the last 16 after taking care of business on Matchday 4 when the Spanish side drew with FC Basel 1893 and the Portuguese team beat FC Shakhtar Donetsk. The two leaders face-off in Portugal while Basel will hope to get a result on the road in the Ukraine.

Group D:
Pacesetters Club Atlético de Madrid and Liverpool FC will extend their Champions League campaigns into the new year by winning at home to PSV Eindhoven and Olympique de Marseille respectively. Atlético can also book up for the knockout stages if they draw and Liverpool avoid defeat. A point would also be enough for Liverpool – who like Atlético have eight points – provided PSV do not prevail in Madrid.

Liverpool will be bolstered by captain Steven Gerrard, who is expected to play in Wednesday’s tie against Marseille after recovering from the groin injury which forced him to miss Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Fulham.

Group E:
With Manchester United FC and Villarreal CF sitting pretty with a six-point cushion over Celtic FC and Aalborg BK, both are likely to qualify for the next round. The two leaders are pitted against one another on Matchday 5 and I picture a draw from their match. The real game of interest in the group is between Aalborg BK and Celtic, which is a battle for the UEFA Cup spot. The Danish champions have won four and drawn four since Allan Kuhn replaced Bruce Rioch, a sequence which has seen them climb to seventh in the Danish Superligaen, progress to the Danish Cup semi-finals and twice come from behind to secure a 2-2 draw at home to Villarreal CF last time out. Also working against Celtic is the fact that they are trying to secure a first away Champions League victory in their 20th attempt. Celtic are still without a number of first-team players due to injury, including Massimo Donati, Marc Crosas and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. They will be hoping to have Georgios Samaras and Aiden McGeady available after their own injury problems. I’d have to go with the home side in this one as the odds are truly stacked against Celtic. It will be a massive win for them if they can beat the Danes at home. If they do make it into the UEFA Cup spot, I could see them enjoying an extended run in that competition.

Group F:
This group looks to be all wrapped up. Olympique Lyonnais enter Matchday 5 knowing exactly what they must do to proceed: avoid defeat at Fiorentina. FC Bayern München may trail Lyon on goals scored, but they find themselves in an even more luxurious position – only the twin occurrence of Bayern losing at home to rock-bottom FC Steaua Bucuresti and Fiorentina beating Lyon will stop the German team celebrating. Fiorentina must win to keep alive their hopes of making the next round.

Group G:
Arsenal FC hold a two-point advantage over FC Porto and will qualify for the knockout stage with a  victory at home to FC Dynamo Kyiv. Arsenal have been struggling lately and have a number of injury concerns. Compounding their poor form were unhelpful comments from captain William Gallas, who questioned the bravery of his team-mates as well as the dressing room spirit. Gallas was not in the lineup against Manchester City this past weekend, a match the Gunners lost 3-0. Manager Arsene Wenger has had little choice but to reinstate Gallas to the team for the clash with Dynamo Kiev as his squad is depleted by injuries. Wenger will have to field a makeshift defence with nine first-teamers out. Wenger has selected 21-year-old Spaniard Cesc Fabregas to permanently replace Gallas as captain.

Porto will advance if they can beat Fenerbahçe SK in Turkey, unless Dynamo win at Arsenal. Fenerbahçe will welcome back last season’s goal scoring hero, Deivid, and will hope to play the spoilers for Porto while giving themselves a shot at UEFA Cup football.

Group H:
By gaining back-to-back victories against Real Madrid CF, Juventus have assured themselves a place in the knockout stage. Real Madrid will also advance if they can defeat FC BATE Borisov in Belarus and Zenit St. Petersburg fail to beat visiting Juventus. Juventus are going to be fielding plenty of their reserve/bench players so the odds are not in Real Madrid’s favour. I am hoping that the final Matchday showdown between Real and Zenit will have a knockout stage place on the line.

In looking back at the past winners and runners-up in both the Champions League and UEFA Cup, one story jumped out at me more than any other. In what was their greatest season to date, Deportivo Alavés had a magical run all the way to the 2001 UEFA Cup Final.

The 2000-01 UEFA Cup was a pure knockout tournament with a single qualifying round and a first round that included 48 teams. The first round produced few shock results with the exception of Fiorentina being knocked out by Austrian club FC Wacker Innsbruck. Alavés snuck by Turkish side Gaziantepspor by a 4-3 aggregate while their eventual opponents in the final Liverpool FC had to scrape a 1-0 aggregate win against Romanian club FC Rapid Bucuresti. Alavés defeated Rosenborg BK of Norway and FC Internazionale Milan in the fourth round to reach the quarter-final stage. Alavés were not alone in their upset run as smaller clubs Rayo Vallecano (Spain) and FC Kaiserslautern (Germany) both made it to the quarter-final stage.

As fate would have it, Alavés were drawn against fellow Spaniards Rayo Vallecano in the quarter-finals and knocked them out 4-2 thanks in large part to a 3-0 home win. In the semi-finals, Alavés then hammered Kaiserslautern by an aggregate of 9-2. They were almost equally prolific in both legs winning 5-1 and 4-1 to advance to the finals.

The final took place at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Germany on May 16, 2001. What looked to be a mismatch on paper turned into one of the greatest games in the history of the UEFA Cup competition. Liverpool had a potent blend of youth (Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Danny Murphy) and more experienced players (Robbie Fowler, Vladimir Smicer, Gary McAllister, Markus Babbel). Powered by players like midfielder Jordi Cruijff, son of the legend Johan Cruijff, as well as right wingback Cosmin Contra and striker Javi Moreno, Alavés were a very attack-minded side. Alavés came back from being down 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 to level the match a fourth time in the 88th minute. The ending to this story was cruel as the game went to extra time and Liverpool won 5–4 on the Golden Goal rule when Delfí Geli headed a Gary McAllister free kick into his own goal.

Highlights of the match are available via this YouTube video

The win propelled Liverpool to a unique cup treble, as they also won the English FA Cup and the English Football League Cup that season. The UEFA Cup win was also Liverpool’s first European trophy since they won European Cup (Champions League forerunner) 17 years earlier.

Alavés has not reached such a height since that memorable day in May and currently find themselves in the Segunda Division (Spanish Division Two — a step below La Liga). Alavés were relegated from the top flight after the 2003-04 season, only to bounce back up a year later. In the 2005-06 season, they were relegated back to the second level and have not returned since. They currently sit 15th in the Segunda Division, 10 points back of leaders UD Salamanca.

One side-note of interest to North American readers, in 2007 Alavés operated a team in the USL First Division in the United States called the California Victory. The team were based out of Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and wore the Alavés colors. However, when Alavés had a change in ownership, the new bosses pulled support for the club and the Victory folded.

Matchday 4 should be a pivotal one as many groups may well be decided once the games are completed. Who needs a win and who can afford to slip? Let’s take a look at Tuesday’s games.

Group A
Roma need to win at home against Chelsea but that is looking to be a tall order considering the run of form that Chelsea are on right now. They absolutely walked all over Sunderland on the weekend and Roma will likely play a counter-attack game again and hope to frustrate the London club. Should there be a winner in the Cluj – Bordeaux match and Roma do not pick up at least a point, the pressure will be on the Italian side. Roma, who lost 2-0 to Juventus on the weekend, have slumped to one of their worst starts in recent seasons and remain just two points off the bottom of the Serie A table. Manager Luciano Spalletti is under pressure from the fans and media, and if results do not turn around quickly he could become the next Champions League manager to be fired.

Group B
Werder Bremen need a win. There is no other way to say it. They have been poor thus far and another draw will not help them turn things around. They looked impressive on the weekend as playmaker Diego starred in a 5-1 drubbing of Hertha Berlin but is it another false dawn? Bremen have a very talented side but have thus far been unable to get the most out of that talent. Here’s hoping we see the same Bremen side in midweek that we saw this  past weekend. Panathinaikos need a win if even UEFA Cup is to be a possibility this season but I don’t see things going there way in Bremen.Anorthosis will hope to hold Inter to a draw, anything more would be a wonder result.With a win, Inter will pretty much have this group wrapped up.

Group C
Top and bottom of the group may well be decided if Barcelona steamroll FC Basel again. The scoreline was an emphatic 5-0 last time and while I don’t expect the same number of goals, I do think the result will be the same. That leaves Sporting and Shakhtar to battle it out for 2nd place. The 1-0 win that Sporting claimed at RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium on Matchday 3 has them sitting three points clear of Shakhtar. A second win against the Ukrainian side will propel them into the last 16. Sporting currently have a perfect record against Ukrainian opposition and while they will be without defender Tonel, I think Sporting will have enough depth and enough incentive to get the result at home.

Group D
The feature matchup in this group is the return fixture between Liverpool and Atlético Madrid. A victory for either side will put them in the driver’s seat in the group. Momentum is on Atlético’s side as they won at the weekend, while Liverpool lost despite playing very well. However, it will be a tall order for Atlético to go to Anfield and take all three points. I think this one will likely end up a draw but should one of the two slip, PSV will be hoping to overcome Marseille and close the gap on second place. The Dutch side currently sit third on 3 points, 4 back of the joint leaders of the group. PSV and Marseille both won at the weekend and the last match was close despite the 2-0 scoreline. Marseille moved within a point of Ligue 1 pacesetters Olympique Lyonnais with a 3-1 victory at home against AS Saint-Etienne,while PSV defeated Willem II by a 2-0 scoreline to move within 1 point of top spot in the Eredivisie.

In what has to be considered a poor decision, the UEFA Appeals Body has reduced the initial three-match stadium closure to a two-match behind closed doors sentence, with one match deferred for two years. Consequently, Atlético must play their next home fixture in the Champions League, against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday  November 26th, without any spectators in attendance. The initial fine of 150,000 Euros still stands.

Atlético were punished after crowd problems marred their Champions League home match with Olympique Marseille on Oct 1, when UEFA said failures in the club’s organisation of the event led to confrontations between visiting fans and Spanish police. Racist chants were reportedly aimed at the French club’s players, while the Marseille team bus was attacked after the match. Atlético were originally ordered to play their next two European fixtures at least 300km outside Madrid.

“Atletico will fight for their innocence until the very end. There has been a reduction (in the punishment) but we don’t agree with the manner in which the process has been conducted,” director Clemente Villaverde told the club’s website .

The ban for Atlético coach Javier Aguirre was not reversed, and he will be banned from the sidelines for the games against Liverpool FC away on Tuesday and the visit of PSV three weeks later. Aguirre was sent off in the match against Marseille and was told that he will have to sit in the stands for the two matches, but he will travel to UEFA headquarters to appeal the decision.

According to Aguirre he did not insult either the referee or any player and said that the referee did not include anything in his report about his actions. “They cannot punish me for telling a player not to do something. There was no insult on my part and no physical or verbal aggression,” he told Spanish newspaper AS.

Videos of the incidents between Marseille supporters and the police in the stadium can be seen via these YouTube links:

Video 1
Video 2

I think the reduction of this ban sends a very bad message to the UEFA community. Racism and violence in the stands is tolerated by the organizing body. How else can these continued weak sanctions be viewed ? I’m disappointed in the decision and I don’t think UEFA is truly interested in ridding the sport of this disgusting element once and for all. As important as standing up for the smaller federations might be, I hope Michel Platini turns some attention to racism and violence that continues to mar the beautiful game. These sorts of incidents have gone on for far too long.

It’s a pretty safe bet Madrid’s Vincente Calderon Stadium will be at capacity today when Liverpool visits for its Champions League Group D match against Atletico Madrid. Shame.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and UEFA will never get a second chance to make its first major stance against racism in Champions League football.

By now the chain of events leading up to today’s match is well chronicled: At Atletico’s last Champions League match against Marseille, police inside Calderon were accused of being “heavy-handed” with Marseille supporters in the stands; it was said the club failed to adequately secure the grounds, Marseille’s journey to the stadium or the press area. In the meantime, Atletico supporters are accused of levying monkey chants against toward the field, Marseille supporters and two black journalists.

Initially, Atletico was facing a two-match Champions League ban at its ground and a requirement to play those matches at least 300 kilometers from Madrid, but UEFA wasn’t punishing them for the racism charges. No, it was for the lax security and general unruliness at the ground and outside. Ultimately, UEFA conceded to pressure from Atletico and Liverpool and only fined Atletico. UEFA said it wouldn’t be fair to the Liverpool supporters who had made travel arrangements to Madrid to reschedule their itineraries.
UEFA cleverly tried to disguise the fine (punishment?) as a statement against racism, but don’t kid yourself. It’s kinda like the American Congress when it stuffs unrelated budget cuts, taxes and mandates into major laws as concessions to the other party in order to get the bigger initiative through the legislative process. It’s a joke, and accepted with a wink and a nod. UEFA punished Atletico, but it said nothing against racism here, even in the statement on its decision. It’s kinda like putting a rapist in jail on a parking violation, and justifying it by saying “Well, at least he’s off the street!”

What happens if today the monkey chants start again in force? Spain and England don’t have the best football relationship; for example, England won’t play an international friendly at the Barnebeau. What if the Spanish hooligans–an no we’re not indicting the whole population of Spanish fans; we understand it’s the actions of a few that sully the whole–use the spotlight of a major international competition and a worldwide TV audience to really spread their poison?
Well UEFA has an answer! It’s put it all on referee Claus Bo Larsen who has been told he can put a stop to the match if the racial taunts begin. Sad. Imagine a testy atmosphere, and the referee sends everyone home before the show is over? The consequences might be too horrid to imagine.

There is no right answer here, well not today any way. UEFA missed its opportunity two weeks ago to enforce the stadium ban, or at a minimum, play it in front of an empty house–granted that doesn’t look good on television.
One thing in favor of things being tranquil today is the heavy Spanish flavor to the Liverpool team, from manager Rafa Benitez to Fernando Torres, who unfortunately for him won’t play today due to injury. That could keep things in check. And hopefully, the club responds with heavy security and heavy marketing to fans, stressing that it’s a good idea they behave today.

Sad. We haven’t said a word yet about how interesting a matchup this is. Not only is there the Spanish connection at Liverpool, but Atletico has been a dangerous side so far. It started the LaLiga campaign strongly and is 2-0 in the Champions League with convincing wins over Marseille and PSV Eindhoven.
Sad. Football continues to be a political platform. Football has also become a stage for hate. Football is under seige, and when powerful organizations such as UEFA tacitly captitulate as it has in this case, problems are far from resolved.

With World Cup qualifying on, its been a little slow for UEFA club competition news but here are some stories around the web that I thought you’d find interesting.

• ESPN Soccernet details the problems at Fenerbahce
• Bundesliga Talk has posted a quick update on every club in the league
• Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter for the Times, offers 10 ways football can ride out the credit crunch
• The Daily Mail reports that Real Madrid are planning to make Carlos Tevez in January
• Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri says that Xabi Alonso was passed over as they felt he was ‘too slow’ ; the article also suggests that Ranieri may be out and replaced with Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez

A few quick injury notes before I sign off. Expect to hear more coaches complain about fixture congestion, etc

• Celtic have been dealt a blow with the news that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is set to miss key games in both the SPL and the Champions League. Vennegoor of Hesselink looks certain to sit out Tuesday’s much-anticipated Champions League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
• Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is set to miss the club’s next three matches through injury. Torres strained a hamstring during Spain’s 2-1 win over Belgium and is expected to be out of action for 10 days. The Reds might also be without Dutch winger Ryan Babel, who sustained an ankle injury after a clash with Blackburn Rovers’ winger Morten Gamst Pedersen in the world Cup qualifier against Norway.
• Villarreal midfielder Sebastián Eguren will be out of action for up to five weeks after tearing his left hamstring during Uruguay’s World Cup qualifying loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
• FC Shakhtar Donetsk have lost defender Ilsinho for the rest of the year and striker Luiz Adriano until November, with the UEFA Champions League Group C visit of Sporting Clube de Portugal looming next Wednesday.
• Real Madrid full-back Miguel Torres has been ruled out for about three weeks after tests confirmed he suffered a tear to his left thigh muscle during the Spain Under-21s’ victory over Switzerland in Lorca on Tuesday.
• Arsenal were hit heavily as William Gallas (hamstring) and Bacary Sagna (knee) suffered knocks while playing for France and Nicklas Bendtner (ankle) was injured representing Denmark. The trio will miss the trip to Fenerbahce, while Cesc Fàbregas (broken nose), Robin van Persie (muscle strain) and Johan Djourou (concussion) are awaiting tests on their ailments.

This may be a bit long-winded and rambling but I hope you stick with me as there are a number of important points to discuss.  UEFA recently released a publication entitled “Safeguarding The Heritage And Future Of Team Sport In Europe”, which outlines UEFA’s stance on principles of good governance, player agents and home-grown players. In addition to that, UEFA President Michel Platini and other officials from both UEFA and FIFA have been speaking out about the state of the sport.

The good governance topic has hit the headlines in the past few days as UEFA has stated that they may need to look at banning heavily indebted clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United from competing in UEFA sanctioned competitions. UEFA has set up a working group, which will meet in Geneva on Monday, to discuss how to extend its licensing system and restrict the levels of debt that clubs are permitted to operate with. Currently the financial stipulations imposed by UEFA are limited to bans on clubs who have outstanding debts on transfer payments or ones that do not pay staff and players on time.

Gabriel Marcotti, writing for Sports Illustrated, hits on the key point. The problem with their message is that the intelligent, reasonable parts have been mixed in with alarmist and what some may consider a bit of xenophobic comments. I think the latter bits are what people are reacting to most. As we’ve seen over at other sites like EPL Talk, the reaction has been strong and at times a little irrational.

Let me say that I disagree with Platini that foreign owners should be limited but I do agree with his overall idea that clubs should work to retain some of their local flavour and heritage.

Related to home-grown talent and local heritage, one important topic that Platini continues to talk about is the issue of underage players moving away from home to go to foreign academies. In an attempt to tear a strip off Platini’s example of Chelsea signing a youth from Marseille , the Gaffer of EPL Talk writes that he “would have a tremendous opportunity to become a millionaire, make his dreams come true and help support his family and parents. If Chelsea didn’t sign the player at 11, some other club would snap him up so why blame Chelsea?”

First, let’s be clear. No one is blaming Chelsea specifically, Platini was merely using an example from the current headlines. The player in question is actually 12 and his name is Jeremy Boga. Chelsea signed him on September 30th for an undisclosed fee.

Outlandishly dubbed the new Zinedine Zidane simply because, like the two-time World Player of the Year, he plays in midfield, Boga already has the spotight on him for the wrong reasons. Let me sidetrack for a moment so I can get something off my mind.  I am only going to say this once — THERE IS NO NEW ZIDANE ! Zidane was a once in a generation sort of talent and it’s simply a lax comparison to label any French player with any sort of flair/advanced technical ability as the ‘new Zizou’.

Now back to the topic at hand, what benefit comes from signing a 12-year-old from Marseille? Europe’s top teams are trying to sign players earlier and control their development as a way to keep potential star players out of the hands of rival clubs. The guise is that it may aid the team in developing cheap talent for the future but I’m not fully convinced. The theory is sound as I’ve seen the cost of turning a 16-year-old into a first-team starter quoted at about 500,000 British pounds.

However, the reality is that very few players from academies break into the first team, perhaps 1 in 100 if the odds are that high. Will this 12-year-old become a millionaire? Maybe but doubtful. The bulk of academy players are either cut loose or sold to lower division clubs in order to have a chance to kick-start their career. There are many examples of players whose development stalled simply because they were stuck in the academy/reserve side of a ‘big club’ for too long.  ‘Big clubs’ like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea and others simply bid big dollars every summer for top players from other clubs. The fact that there is another club that would sign him does not make the practice correct or healthy for the sport.

The largest argument against home-grown talent is that football is a business and you shouldn’t dictate where the employees come from. Fair point. I don’t think Liverpool needs to field 11 Scousers but insuring that there are 4-5 places for local lads seems reasonable to me. Mind you, I am used to the Canadian Football League and its limits on foreign (i.e. US-born) players so perhaps it’s not as big a leap in logic for me as it might be for others. However, if you are going to allow freedom of employee recruitment then it’s not unreasonable to expect the businesses to recruit smartly and not find themselves severly in debt.

I maintain you can’t have it both ways. Arsenal were ridiculed for not spending money in the summer transfer market like their rivals but whatever happened to sound business management? The Premier League has learned from the example of the American (and global for that matter) banking system and many clubs are spending well beyond their means or are pushing their finances to the brink (examples: UEFA Cup contenders Portsmouth spending 90% of their income on player’s salaries or West Ham’s £142m debt funded from Iceland where the economy has reached meltdown). What is going to happen to these clubs if the TV dollars are cut or some of they see other revenue streams shrink? Already you can tell that attendance at EPL games is not as strong across the board as other domestic leagues. With all of these factors in mind, I applaud Arsenal and other clubs like them for their current approach — they are running their business properly and turning a tidy little profit in the meantime.

Now had Arsenal blown 30-50 million in the transfer window, these same folks that cry out against quotas would be moaning about the fact that Arsenal were not making money and were simply buying their accolades. Or, they simply would overlook it until the clubs reached the point of insolvency as happened with Leeds United just a few years ago. One of the articles I read this week, from the Guardian newspaper, quoted a football finance expert as estimating that interest payments on debt exceed the profit from the English Premier League. Perhaps I am overly prudent about financial matters but the current Premier League situation sounds like a recipe for diaster to me. The realy worrying part is that clubs in financially well-managed situations are looking at the Premier League model and thinking “Why can’t we do that?” It’s that sort of short term thinking that leads clubs to relying on bailouts from millionaires as with AC Milan in the 1980s or as in the case of Real Madrid, a controversial property deal that reportedly netted the club 480m Euros, which they promptly plowed a large chunk of into player transfers.

What sort of rules could UEFA put in place? This is where it is going to get extremely tricky. They could state that clubs would not receive UEFA sanctioning if their debt rose above a reasonable per cent of their income or if their wage bill ever amounted to more than a certain per cent of their turnover. The latter is unlikely to happen but the limit on debt seems reasonable and fair to me. Why should a club be allowed to spend its way into debt simply to hoarde players from other clubs? The former is also problematic as Arsenal, who also have a large debt they are servicing, are in debt for a “good” reason. They’ve borrowed money to build a new stadium, which has increased their revenue streams. This is good debt as it is tied to a tangible asset and not a player’s contract, which decreases in value over time

(Note: I believe there are ways to write a player’s depreciation off as a loss against the business but it’s debatable whether the cost of acquiring the player and paying their wages is returned in tax benefits).

Those are just basic ideas and I’m sure UEFA will need time to study the problem in more depth before proposing any licensing or regulation of clubs. The important part is to address what many see as a problem within the game and not simply buy into the hype that “All is well” or “The playing field has never been level”. I don’t agree with either viewpoint. Simply because a condition has always existed does not make it just or correct. Ultimately though, UEFA may not have much power to act and might need to rely on the domestic governing bodies to bring their own houses in order as has been done in Scotland and elsewhere.

The other ace-in-the-hole for the ‘big clubs’ is the threat of breaking away and forming a European Super League as has been rumoured in the past. That would be a dark day for many domestic leagues as they would all see their TV money dip and they would be relegated to the role of feeder clubs for the Super League. And don’t think for a second that there would be a way in for a smaller club….any such entity would be a closed shop for the elite.

Interesting days to be sure and we’ll follow the goings on as they develop. Thanks for sticking with me if you’ve read this far and I look forward to your comments and feedback!