It’s Football Season Once Again!
It’s UEFA Champions League Season once again. The UEFA Champions League 2005-2006 season Group Stage competition will kick-off on Wednesday, September 13,2005.
There are 32-teams in the group stage. The clubs are split into eight groups of four teams, who play home and away against each of their pool opponents between September and December to decide which two teams from each pool advance to the first knockout round. The third-place finishers in each pool enter the UEFA Cup Round of 32. The 2005/06 UEFA Champions League final will be played at the Stade de France in Paris as the competition returns to its roots in its 50th anniversary year.
My teams for this Champions League season are Real Madrid and Barcelona. This season will be the debut of a strong Brazilian reinforced line up of the Los Galacticos. Real’s new recruits, Robinho and Julio Cesar Baptista will add glitter to the starry team up of Ronaldo, Raul, Zidane and Beckham. And of course there’s also Barcelona, also led by Brazilian stars, Ronaldinho and Deco, which remains a favorite in the Champions League.
Too much excitement is promised by this footballing season. The UEFA Champions League season serves as a curtain raiser to the most awaited event of the footballing world – the FIFA World Cup which will kick-off on June 2006 in Germany. Immediately after the UEFA Champions League finals in May 2006, FIFA World Cup begins.
UEFA Champions League matches are shown in live telecast at ESPN and Star Sports Channels. In the midst of an ongoing political imbroglio our country is facing today, this footballing season will be a perfect respite.