On Wednesday, UEFA stepped in to deny FC Porto a 2008/2009 Champions League starting place which they had already secured on a sporting level. The result of the decision is that Werder Bremen move up a place in the rankings.
On Wednesday, UEFA stepped in to deny FC Porto a 2008/2009 Champions League starting place which they had already secured on a sporting level. The result of the decision is that Werder Bremen move up a place in the rankings.
On Wednesday, UEFA stepped in to deny FC Porto a 2008/2009 Champions League starting place which they had already secured on a sporting level. The result of the decision is that Werder Bremen move up a place in the rankings. The expulsion of the Champions League winner from 2003, then under the guidance of star trainer Jose Mourinho, is due to evidence of match fixing and referee manipulation from the year 2004. Porto have made an appeal against the UEFA conclusion.
According to the ranking list, which is regulated by the UEFA co-efficience laws (co-effience is at 74,078), Werder Bremen take a place in Pot 2 of four and cannot be placed against other teams from the same pot such as Eindhoven, As Roma or Villareal. Even without the exclusion of Porto, the Green-Whites would have been placed in Pot 2.
The draw for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2008/2009 will be held on 28.08.2008. Werder Bremen are in the draw having finished in second place in the Bundesliga and with that, having managed to avoid the fate that a number of other top European clubs still have to sweat through – the merciless qualifiers.
The qualifying round for next season’s competition will include the likes of FC Barcelona, Arsenal London, FC Liverpool, Juventus Turin, Olympique Marseille, Atletico Madrid, AC Florenz and Glasgow Rangers. AC Milan, who very disappointingly finished in fifth place in the Serie A, have missed out on qualifying completely.
