I know it doesn't matter to all you fans of big league clubs, but for the rest of us plebes and mere mortals, the Champions League has already started. The 2nd round draw was yesterday and that round means we're now getting champions from all associations ranked from 16 down and runners up from 12 down, 24 teams total. There's a 3rd round (20 teams) and then a knock out round (12 teams) before we get to the Group draw. Fans of teams in Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands, Greece and other smaller federations all have to endure this torture to get to the big payday of the Groups. Early season international games that mean absolutely everything for a big club in a small league's bottom line. And really only the Scandinavian teams have even started their seasons.
For my own rooting interests, Celtic easily managed stage one but drew freaking Rosenborg from Norway AGAIN for the second round. Again, the Scandy leagues have the advantage of an earlier start to the season and thus are well along in terms of fitness and training. At least Celtic didn't do anything stupid like tour the US this summer, thus screwing up the first part of training camp. Other notables in this round are Ajax (Netherlands), Malmo (Sweden), FC Basel (Switzerland), PAOK (Greece), and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia). That's some big, big clubs WAY out in the UEFA weeds because of the effect of the disparity of TV rights money in Europe. And people wonder why Celtic and Rangers keep scheduling meetings with the English FA. When you've got the likes of Celtic, Ajax and FC Basel hacking it out for their financial lives in what would normally be the first weeks of camp ... yeah. Fun times.
For my own rooting interests, Celtic easily managed stage one but drew freaking Rosenborg from Norway AGAIN for the second round. Again, the Scandy leagues have the advantage of an earlier start to the season and thus are well along in terms of fitness and training. At least Celtic didn't do anything stupid like tour the US this summer, thus screwing up the first part of training camp. Other notables in this round are Ajax (Netherlands), Malmo (Sweden), FC Basel (Switzerland), PAOK (Greece), and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia). That's some big, big clubs WAY out in the UEFA weeds because of the effect of the disparity of TV rights money in Europe. And people wonder why Celtic and Rangers keep scheduling meetings with the English FA. When you've got the likes of Celtic, Ajax and FC Basel hacking it out for their financial lives in what would normally be the first weeks of camp ... yeah. Fun times.
