soccer: 13 Feb 2009

2008/2009 Info

Defending Champions: Manchester United (England)

Final Location and Date: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy on 27th May 2009

Competing Teams

UEFA's 52 member associations will send 76 clubs to compete in the 2008/2009 UEFA Champion's League, the 54th time the tournament has been played and the 17th season in it's current guise as the UEFA Champion's League. The following clubs were originally entered into each subsequent stage of the competition:

First qualifying round clubs: Artmedia Petržalka (Slovakia), Kaunas (Lithuania), BATE (Belarus), Llanelli (Wales), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Tampere United (Finland), Dinamo Tirana (Albania), NSÍ Runavík (Faroe Islands), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Levadia (Estonia), F91 Dudelange(Luxembourg), IFK Göteborg (Sweden), Drogheda United (Ireland), Pyunik Yerevan (Armenia), Valletta(Malta), Domžale (Slovenia), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), Inter Baku (Azerbaijan), Santa Coloma(Andorra), Modriča (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Rabotnički (Republic of Macedonia), Aktobe (Kazakhstan), Murata(San Marino), Ventspils (Latvia), Valur (Iceland), Linfield (Northern Ireland), Budućnost Podgorica(Montenegro)

Second qualifying round clubs:: Rangers (Scotland), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Beitar Jerusalem (Israel), Rapid Wien(Austria), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Panathinaikos (Greece), Partizan (Serbia), Wisła Kraków(Poland), Anderlecht (Belgium), Basel (Switzerland), Aalborg BK (Denmark), MTK Budapest(Hungary), Sparta Prague (Czech Republic), Brann(Norway)

Third qualifying round clubs: Barcelona (Spain), Fiorentina (Italy), Twente (the Netherlands), Slavia Prague(Czech Republic), Atlético Madrid (Spain), Marseille (France), Spartak Moscow (Russia), Galatasaray (Turkey), Arsenal (England), Schalke 04 (Germany), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Olympiacos (Greece), Liverpool (England), Vitória Guimarães (Portugal), Standard Liège (Belgium), Levski Sofia(Bulgaria), Juventus (Italy), Steaua Bucureşti (Romania)

Group stage clubs: Real Madrid(Spain), Internazionale (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), CFR Cluj(Romania), Villarreal (Spain), Roma (Italy), Werder Bremen (Germany), PSV Eindhoven(the Netherlands), Manchester United (England), Lyon (France), Porto (Portugal), Zenit St. Petersburg(Russia), Chelsea (England), Bordeaux (France), Sporting CP (Portugal), Celtic (Scotland)