2011-12 UEFA Champions League Draw Groups Announced
| August 25, 2011 | Posted by Dave Kingston under Soccer News & Info, Sports Schedules |
Groups A through H were drawn earlier for the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League. Included in this draw are top teams such as Manchester City, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Milan and Barcelona. Overall there are 32 different squads ready to get on the field for their games.
England and Spain currently lead all countries with four teams each in the draw. Overall there were clubs selected from 18 national associations. Former and current players were on hand including Luis Figo and Carlos Puyol to assist in revealing the draw on Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Here are the eight groups with the four teams assigned to each for UEFA Champions League.
Group A
Bayern Munich
Villarreal
Manchester City
Napoli
Group B
Internazionale
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor
Group C
Manchester United
Benfica
Basel
Otelul
Group D
Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dynamo Zagreb
Group E
Chelesa
Valencia
Bayer Leverkusen
Genk
Group F
Arsenal
Marseilles
Olympiakos
Dortmund
Group G
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit St. Petersburg
APOEL
Group H
Barcelona
Milan
BATE
Plzen
The UEFA Champions League will now enter into the “Group Stage” with Matchday 1 starting on September 13th through 14th.
Matchday 1 13–14 September 2011
Matchday 2 27–28 September 2011
Matchday 3 18–19 October 2011
Matchday 4 1–2 November 2011
Matchday 5 22–23 November 2011
Matchday 6 6–7 December 2011
A Knockout Phase will follow the Group Stage. The Round of 16 will have a draw date of December 16th, 2011, with play beginning in mid-February. The final will be held on May 19th, 2012.
In 2010-11 FC Barcelona were the winners and have 15 years of total experience in the UEFA League. This marks the 57th overall season of the UEFA Champions League, once called the “European Cup” of soccer (football). The final venue for the championship is set to be Allianz Arena which is the home field of Bayern Munich. These groups and draws should have some exciting international football action as they head towards the UEFA Champions League final!
