Champions League news.. and, no doubt, all the Kopites will be glued to the outcome of the Benfica - PAOK Champions League qualifier tie. Benfica are seeded to progress (into Pot 2, holding a higher coefficient than YKW). Naturally though, if they fail, The Spawny Kopites will benefit to the tune of a Pot 2 place.. I need hardly tell you that Benfica have the tricky second leg away in Greece nor indeed that, tied with Dinamo Kyiv and Schalke04 they spawn the higher ranking based on last season's results (i.e. an extra ranking point somewhere in their campaign). All this means they are bound to face Lokomotiv Moscow, Victoria Plzen and Videoton in the Group Stages as opposed to Barca, Napoli and a tricky trip to Galatasaray (for example).
Ranking order of the 38 sides still involved in the CL.
(6) Bracketed sides are unseeded in the final qualifier
Pot 1 (Ranked 1-8) coef.
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Real Madrid Esp 162.000
Atlético Madrid Esp 140.000
FC Barcelona Esp 132.000
Bayern München Ger 135.000
Manchester City Eng 100.000
Juventus Ita 126.000
Paris Saint-Germain Fra 109.000
Lokomotiv Moscow Rus 22.500
Pot 2 (Ranked 9-16) coef.
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Borussia Dortmund Ger 89.000
FC Porto Por 86.000
Manchester United Eng 82.000
Shakhtar Donetsk Ukr 81.000
Benfica Por 80.000 Qualifiers
Napoli Ita 78.000
Tottenham Hotspur Eng 67.000
Roma Ita 64.000
Pot 3 (Ranked 17-24) coef.
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Liverpool Eng 62.000
Dinamo Kiev Ukr 62.000 Qualifiers
Schalke 04 Ger 62.000
Olympique Lyon Fra 59.500
AS Monaco Fra 57.000
FC Salzburg Aut 55.500 Qualifiers
(Ajax Ned 53.500)Qualifiers
CSKA Moscow Rus 45.000
PSV Eindhoven Ned 36.000 Qualifiers
Pot 4 (Ranked 25-32) coef.
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Valencia Esp 36.000
Viktoria Plzen Cze 33.000
Club Brugge Bel 29.500
Galatasaray Tur 29.500
(PAOK Thessaloniki Gre 29.500)Qualifiers
Young Boys Sui 20.500 Qualifiers
(BATE Borisov Bls 20.500)Qualifiers
(Dinamo Zagreb Cro 17.500)Qualifiers
Internazionale Ita 16.000
1899 Hoffenheim Ger 14.285
(Red Star Belgrade Srb 10.750)Qualifiers
AEK Athens Gre 10.000 Qualifiers
(Videoton Fehérvár Hun 4.250) Qualifiers