UEFA Champions League

The final European league I'll be posting about is the greatest of them all; the UEFA Champions League. This is an annual club tournament bringing together the champions of top European leagues. The qualification is selected through a process of rankings and coefficients of which I'll get into later.

The Champions League is the 2nd most prestigious futbol title behind the FIFA World Cup. It's final draws the most viewership than any other sporting event in the world (Even the Super Bowl!) Over the years my attention to this sporting event has come and gone, quite simply because this is America. However as another World Cup approaches, I can't help but once again reignite my passion for soccer diverting full attention to the ongoing 2013-2014 Champions League. This post is somewhat of a study for my own understanding yet also a commemoration to this great tournament.

College Memory

I first remember taking notice of this epic tournament during my time at Indiana University (2003-2007). It seemed ESPN was always on everywhere I want; the dorms, rec halls, cafeterias, even at our Beech Tree apartments. I remember constantly hearing the commercials as I got ready for class in my apartment. There was a powerful anthem sung by a chorus always singing about, "The Champions!" I didn't quite understand it then, yet I would watch some of these matches in between classes at the IU Memorial building. Of course my mind was always occupied with other stuff at the time, but little by little I was able to piece together what this special tournament was.

It was that summer of 06 in B-town, that I watched my first ever Champions League final with my friends. It was Barcelona vs Arsenal, and I of course was cheering for Barcelona. They went on to win the final 2-1. I was quite inspired that summer with soccer, due to the approaching German World Cup, as well as this new understanding of the Champions League. And from that point on I came to understand that top quality futbol was played in Europe and the grandest stage was at the UEFA Champions League.


History of the Champions League

It was first founded in 1955 known simply as the European Cup. At that time it brought together 16 champions from the best leagues in Europe. Real Madrid went on to win the first cup, as well as the four that followed. The tournament kept a basic 16 team single elimination format until 1992 when UEFA completely restructured the tournament into the Champions League. A group stage process was added, as well as qualifications and a ranking system to give more teams a chance to partake.

They also commissioned an anthem to emphasize the prestigious tournament that it had become. This anthem composed by Tony Britten, still plays today and has become the marketing backbone of the tournament as well as the inspirational creed. It has Handel-like elements, classical chorus, with German, English, and French lyrics intertwined. It is a very inspiring anthem to hear, quite similar to the Olympic Fanfare anthem, that makes the event all the more grandiose.

9		Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1968, 1998, 2000, 2002)
7		AC Milan (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007)
5		Liverpool FC (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005)
		Bayern München (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013)
4		FC Barcelona (1992, 2006, 2009, 2011)
		AFC Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973, 2005)
3		Manchester United (1968, 1999, 2008)
		Inter (1964, 1965, 2010)
2		FC Porto (1987, 2004)
		Juventus (1985, 1996)
		Nottingham Forest (1979, 1980)
		SL Benfica (1961, 1962)
1		Chelsea FC (2012)
		Borussia Dortmund (1997)
		Olympique Marseille (1993)
		Crvena Zvezda (1991)
		PSV Eindhoven (1988)
		Steaua Bucureşti (1986)
		Hamburger SV (1983)
		Aston Villa (1982)
		Feyenoord (1970)
		Celtic FC (1967)

UEFA

The governing body of European futbol, is known as UEFA; the Union of European Football Association. It is one of 6 continental branches of FIFA (Federation International Football Association). It is without question the most prestigious of the 6 branches, as Europe has a long tradition of professional futbol. UEFA hosts 3 particularly prestigious tournaments;

• European National Cup: A European tournament among national teams held every four years
• Champions League: An annual club tournament among the champions of top European leagues (Similar to the NCAA March Madness college bracket)
• Europa League: The 2nd tier-club tournament among champions of top European leagues (Similar to the NIT college basketball bracket)

Coefficient Rankings

I won't lie this is some complicated stuff, and has taken me a while to understand the process. In order to create a tournament that brings together the best teams in the continent, UEFA has established a coefficient ranking system, similar to the ones used for NCAA. This system however is based on points from previous seasons; wins, draws, losses, domestic and international championships. Since there are so many teams and leagues within Europe, this ranking system is utilized to weed out the champions into a manageable tournament.

Each European league is ranked by their teams' performances in previous Champions or Europa tournaments. There is then a pyramid for how many teams each league can enter into the Champions/Europa tournament. It should come as no surprise that leagues such as the Premiere League, Bundesliga, and La Liga can enter 3 to 4 teams in to the Champions League and 2 to 3 teams into the Europa League. This is because these leagues have stronger teams and competition and have performed better in previous years.

However whats especially incredible about this system is that it can change each year, and enables lower teams to climb the ladder. Here is a look at the current UEFA Coefficient Rankings: (Note: This is for the country's premiere league, the total points from their last 5 seasons, and the amount of teams that can gain entry to the Champions and Europa leagues)

#	country	09/10	10/11	11/12	12/13	13/14	ranking	teams
1	Spain	17.928	18.214	20.857	17.714	14.285	88.998	6/ 7
2	England	17.928	18.357	15.250	16.428	14.357	82.320	6/ 7
3	Germany	18.083	15.666	15.250	17.928	12.857	79.784	5/ 7
4	Italy	15.428	11.571	11.357	14.416	10.333	63.105	5/ 6
5	Portugal	10.000	18.800	11.833	11.750	5.583	57.966	2/ 6
6	France	15.000	10.750	10.500	11.750	6.666	54.666	2/ 6
7	Russia	6.166	10.916	9.750	9.750	9.250	45.832	3/ 6
8	Netherlands	9.416	11.166	13.600	4.214	4.750	43.146	2/ 6
9	Ukraine	5.800	10.083	7.750	9.500	7.000	40.133	4/ 6
10	Belgium	8.700	4.600	10.100	6.500	6.200	36.100	1/ 5
11	Turkey	7.600	4.600	5.100	10.200	6.500	34.000	2/ 5
12	Greece	7.900	7.600	7.600	4.400	5.700	33.200	2/ 5
13	Switzerland	5.750	5.900	6.000	8.375	5.400	31.425	1/ 5
14	Austria	9.375	4.375	7.125	2.250	6.800	29.925	1/ 5
15	Czech Republic	4.100	3.500	5.250	8.500	6.500	27.850	2/ 4
16	Romania	6.083	3.166	4.333	6.800	6.875	27.257	4
17	Israel	7.250	4.625	6.000	3.250	5.500	26.625	1/ 4
18	Cyprus	4.250	3.125	9.125	4.000	2.750	23.250	4
19	Denmark	4.400	6.700	3.100	3.300	3.600	21.100	1/ 5
20	Croatia	3.000	4.125	3.750	4.375	4.375	19.625	4
21	Poland	2.125	4.500	6.625	2.500	3.125	18.875	4
22	Belarus	3.375	5.875	3.125	4.500	1.750	18.625	4
23	Scotland	2.666	3.600	2.750	4.300	3.250	16.566	4
24	Sweden	2.500	2.600	2.900	5.125	3.200	16.325	5
25	Bulgaria	3.125	4.625	1.500	0.750	4.875	14.875	1/ 4
26	Norway	2.100	2.375	2.300	4.900	2.600	14.275	5
27	Serbia	3.000	3.500	2.125	3.000	2.500	14.125	4
28	Hungary	2.750	2.750	2.250	3.000	0.875	11.625	4
29	Slovakia	2.500	3.000	2.375	1.500	1.625	11.000	4
30	Slovenia	1.375	1.500	2.250	3.250	2.375	10.750	1/ 4
31	Moldova	2.125	2.125	0.500	2.250	3.375	10.375	4
32	Azerbaijan	1.500	2.000	1.375	3.000	2.500	10.375	4
33	Georgia	1.750	1.875	2.875	1.500	1.875	9.875	4
34	Kazakhstan	1.250	0.875	1.625	1.375	3.125	8.250	4
35	Bosnia-Herzegovina	1.750	1.875	1.125	1.250	1.500	7.500	4
36	Finland	1.375	1.800	1.500	2.000	0.500	7.175	5
37	Iceland	1.250	0.375	1.375	1.250	2.500	6.750	4
38	Latvia	2.250	0.500	0.625	1.250	1.625	6.250	4
39	Montenegro	1.125	1.750	0.500	1.375	1.250	6.000	4
40	Albania	1.000	0.875	0.875	0.750	2.000	5.500	4
41	Lithuania	1.250	0.625	1.000	1.125	1.250	5.250	4
42	Macedonia	0.500	1.375	1.625	1.250	0.500	5.250	4
43	Ireland	1.375	1.000	1.500	1.000	0.250	5.125	4
44	Luxembourg	0.250	0.625	1.125	1.375	1.500	4.875	4
45	Malta	0.750	1.500	0.833	0.875	0.875	4.833	4
46	Liechtenstein	1.000	0.500	2.000	0.000	1.000	4.500	1
47	Northern Ireland	0.125	1.125	0.500	1.000	0.875	3.625	4
48	Wales	0.250	0.875	0.625	0.500	0.750	3.000	4
49	Armenia	0.500	0.250	0.125	0.875	1.125	2.875	4
50	Estonia	0.875	0.250	0.375	0.375	1.000	2.875	4
51	Faroe Islands	0.000	0.250	0.500	0.500	0.875	2.125	4
52	San Marino	0.500	0.166	0.000	0.000	0.333	0.999	3
53	Andorra	0.500	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.333	0.833	3

Format of the Champions League

The Champions League is actually more of a tournament than a league, and it's format is more similar to the domestic cups. It begins with early qualification stages, giving the lesser teams a chance to make a run, and eventually takes form into a 32 team group stage format.

Qualification Stages

• The first stage: Begins with 4 league champions of associations 50-53 (In the above scenario that would be the premiere league champions of Estonia, Faroe Islands, San Marino, and Andorra) The two winners move on the next round
• The second stage: Enter 32 league champions of associations 17-49 as well as the two winners from 50-53, making for a total of 34 teams. The 17 winners move on to the next round.
• The third stage: Enter 3 league champions of associations 14-16 (In the above scenario that would be the champions of Austria, Czech Republic, and Romania). These three teams are randomly matched with the remaining 17 teams from the previous rounds, for a total of 20 teams. 10 teams move on.
• The fourth stage: Enter 9 runner-ups from associations 7-15 as well as 1 third place team from association 6. These teams face each other and 5 move on.
• The fifth stage: The ten winners of the previous round face each other. 5 teams move on to group stage.
• The sixth stage: Enter 2 third place teams from associations 4-5 and 3 fourth place teams from associations 1-3. These 5 teams face the 5 non-championship winners of the fourth stage, and 5 teams move on to group stage. 

At this point there are a total of 10 teams that have qualified for the group stage to join the 22 seeded teams, making for a total of 32 remaining teams.

Group Stages

• Group Stage: Enter the automatic top seeds; 13 champions from associations 1-13, 6 runner-ups from associations 1-6, and 3 third place teams from associations 1-3 (Spain, England, Germany). These 22 seeded teams are joined with the 10 qualifying teams to be randomly distributed into 8 groups of 4 (similar to the World Cup group point format) 
• Group Format: Each team in a group plays each other twice, home and away. A win counts for 3 points, a tie for 1 point, and a loss for zero points. At the end of 6 games a piece, the top two tallies proceed to the next knockout stage. If there are ties, than goal differential and away goals are taken into consideration. At the end of the group stages, the top two teams from each group move on, to make up a total of 16 teams on to the Knockout Phase.
• Round of 16: Unlike the World Cup Knockout Phase where the match ups have been pre-determined in a bracket setting, the UCL match-ups are once again drawn at random. Also different than the World Cup is they use a 2-leg aggregate system (home-and-away). The highest goals after two games move on to the quarter finals. (Away goals are taken into consideration if there is a tie; otherwise they go into a PK shootout) The 8 winning teams move on to the Quarter Finals
• Quarter Finals: Once again there is a random draw and once again the teams face each other twice, home and away. The team with the higher aggregate moves on to the next round. 4 winners move on to the Semi-Finals.
• Semi-Finals: Once again there is a random draw and once again the teams face each other twice, home and away. The team with the higher aggregate moves on to the next round. The 2 winners move on to the Finals.
• Champions League Final: The two finalists face each other in 1 single game at a predetermined location in May. 

The 2013-2014 Ongoing Tournament

As of now the 2013-2014 tournament is in its Round of 16 stage. For the first time ever, I have really payed attention to the build-up now that I fully understand it. Here are the ongoing matchups;

• Barcelona (ESP) vs Manchester City (ENG)
• PSG (FRA) vs Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
• Arsenal (ENG) vs Bayern Munich (GER)
• Atletico Madrid (ESP) vs AC Milan (ITA)
• Olympiakos (GRE) vs Manchester United (ENG)
• Galatsaray (TUR) vs Chelsea (ENG)
• FC Shalke (GER) vs Real Madrid (ESP)
• Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS) vs Borussia Dortmund (GER)

On Tuesday I listened to Barcelona beat Man City 2-nil on the radio. Yesterday I went to Chatham Tap with a coworker to watch the Bayern Munich beat Arsenal 2-nil. Next week I intend to follow the Man United-Olympiakos as well as the many more to come. I'm of course pulling for my two favorite teams Barcelona and Manchester United, however fear that Bayern Munich may be very tough to beat, in a league of their own at the top. They won it last year in a thrilling final against their German arch rivals Dortmund. Hopefully somebody can dethrone them, and I'm hoping it's Barcelona. Nonetheless I love it all, and am grateful for this new found hobby and inspiration.