UEFA Champions League Draw

The UEFA Champions League (CL) - the way champions should be crowned. College Football take note - you are a joke compared to this system. Well actually the college football post-season is a joke regardless. The CL takes the top teams from each club league throughout Europe from the 08-09 season and places them in a group, then knock-out, tournament to crown the best club in Europe. Fans get to see the best of the best meet in exciting and new match-ups each year. In the US, ESPN has held the rights to the league for the past few years, but Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) has taken over this year. While FSC won't have HD until January 2010 the major positive of the tv coverage switch is that FSC will take a more expansive approach to all stages throughout the tournament. On ESPN you would only get 2-3 matches per week once the later stages approach.  FSC has already been covering and showing each match starting with the qualifying round. Enough with that, lets look at the groups (Note - the top two from each group advance after each team has played each either home and away):

Group A:
 - Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, & Maccabi Haifa
 - Interesting group with the traditional powers of Bayern & Juventus and the new french champion Bordeaux
 - Advancing: Bayern Munich & Bordeaux

Group B:
 - Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, & Wolfsburg
 - ManU take 1 spot, with a wide open fight for the 2nd
 - Advancing: Manchester United & Wolfsburg

Group C:
 - AC Milan, Read Madrid, Marseille, Zurich
 - Should be interesting to watch Kaka return to the San Sirio, Zurich is the weak link here
 - Advancing: Real Madrid & AC Milan

Group D:
 - Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
 - Chelsea looks poised to make a run to the finals this year. Porto is not as strong this year.
 - Advancing: Chelsea & Atletico Madrid

Group E:
 - Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
 - With Fiorentina down this year, it looks like safe passage for Liverpool and Lyon
 - Advancing: Liverpool & Lyon

Group F:
 - Barcelona, Inter, Dynamo Kyiv, Rubin Kazen
 - Will be quite tough for Dynamo and Rubin to advance with this draw, Dynamo might pull out a win over Inter
 - Advancing: Barca & Inter

Group G:
 - Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart & Unirea Urziceni
 - Wide open group, best opportunity for some surprise entries into the knock-out rounds
 - Advancing: Sevilla & Stuttgart

Group H:
 - Arsenal, AZ, Olympiacos, Standard Liege
 - Arsenal should see a smooth ride through the group stage, with a battle between Standard Liege and Olymp for the final spot.
 - Advancing: Arsenal & Olympiacos

So there you go, another Champions League truly begins and I've made my predictions. Lets see how they fair when the group stage kicks off on September 15th. Leave your thoughts and predictions in the comment section below.