UEFA Champions League 2009-2010 – Group Stage Draw LIVEBLOG

This article refers to an earlier version of the Champions League draw. Go to the latest Champions League draw article.

The draw for the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League group stages took place today in Monaco. While we wait for Europe’s top-club competition to finally set sail, this a 30 minutes of drama every fan must go through every year, as they silently (or extremelly vocally, it’s a matter of taste) conjure karma in order for their team to get an easy group. Only in never quite works out in the end, does it?

Soccerlens covered the event LIVE, giving you the groups as they unfolded. We also got to see the winners of the 2009 UEFA Player of the Year awards.

Full results of the Draw & Awards after the jump.

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UEFA Champions League 2009-10 Group Stage

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. Group A .			. Group B .
	Bayern		Man Utd	Man Utd
	Juventus			CSKA Moskow
	Bordeaux			Besiktas
	Maccabi Haifa			Wolfsburg

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. Group C .			. Group D .
	AC Milan		Chelsea	Chelsea
Real Madrid	Real Madrid		FC Porto	Porto
	Marseille			Atletico Madrid
	FC Zürich			APOEL

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. Group E .			. Group F .
Liverpool	Liverpool		Barcelona	Barcelona
Olympique Lyonnais	Lyon		Inter Milan	Inter Milan
	Fiorentina			Dynamo Kiev
	Debrecen			Rubin Kazan

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. Group G .			. Group H .
	Sevilla		Arsenal	Arsenal
	Rangers			AZ Alkmaar
	Stuttgart			Olympiakos
	Unirea Urziceni			Standard

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UEFA Player of the Year Awards

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Best Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar (Man Utd)
Best Defender: John Terry (Chelsea)
Best Midfielder: Xavi Hernández (Barcelona)
Best Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Best Club Footballer of the Year: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
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19:00: This completes the SOCCERLENS LIVEBLOG coverage of the UEFA Champions League 09-10 Group Stage Draw. Many apologies for the slight delay, and thanks for watching! There’s only a few weeks left till it all begins, so be sure to tune back to Soccerlens for all the UCL action! 😉

18:58: …and the winner is (drumroll)… LIONEL MESSI. Fully deserved for la Pulga atomica. He succeeds to Cristiano Ronaldo last year.

18:57: And finally, the award for the UEFA 2009 Club Player of the Year. The winners in the individual categories: Goalkeeper = Edwin van der Sar, Defender = John Terry, Midfielder = Xavi Hernandez, Forward = Lionel Messi.

18:55: At a glance, there isn’t exactly a “super-group” that stands out. Moderately difficult are groups A, C, and E. As for Arsenal and Man Utd, they have it relatively easy I’d say.

18:53: And lastly, MACCABI HAIFA in group A, with Bayern, Juventus, and Bordeaux.

18:52: RUBIN KAZAN in group F, with Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev. “Eastern European” flavor in this one as they said.

18:50: APOEL with Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid. In group D.
FC Zurich with Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille. In group C.

18:49: WOLFSBURG in Group B! With Man Utd, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas. Not a bad group for Sir Alex’s boys either!

18:48: DEBRECENI in Group E with Liverpool, Lyon, and Fiorentina.

18:47: UNIREA URZICENI in Group G with Sevilla, Rangers, and Stuttgart.

18:46: STANDARD in Group H with Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, and Olympiakos. Could the Gunners really have it *any* easier?

18:45: Last Pot to draw. Here we go.

18:43: Best Forward award being handed out by Denis Law. And the winners is… LIONEL MESSI (how surprising! :))

18:41: DYNAMO KIEV with Barcelona & Inter Milan.
OLYMPIAKOS with Arsenal and AZ Alkmaar.

18:39: MARSEILLE with Milan & Real Madrid. Another seemingly good group.
ATLETICO MADRID with Chelsea & Porto.

18:37: BESIKTAS with CSKA Moskow and Man Utd
FIORENTINA with Liverpool and Lyon! This one is promising to be quite a group!

18:35: STUTTGART were drawn in Group G with Sevilla and Rangers.
BORDEAUX in Group A with Bayern & Juventus.

18:30: Two teams have been connected in each Group so far:
Bayern & Juventus
Man Utd & CSKA Moskow
Milan & Real Madrid!!!
Chelsea & Porto
Liverpool & Lyon!
Barcelona & Inter!!!
Sevilla & Rangers
Arsenal & AZ Alkmaar

18:26 Had a bit of a problem connecting to the website, many apologies. And so with a little delay, off we go.

This week’s 10 play-off winners join the 22 automatic entrants in Thursday’s group-stage draw. The 32 sides are split into 4 seeding pots, with one from each to be drawn into the 8 groups, though no team can meet another from the same association.

Here are the 4 Pots:

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Seeds are based on UEFA’s coefficient system with holders Barcelona the top seeds and seven other leading clubs in Pot 1. The competition’s most successful side, Real Madrid (a dark horse in the online betting stakes for the CL title), are in the second pot along with Italian teams Inter Milan and Juventus while, after extended absences, Atlético Madrid and Fiorentina will compete in back-to-back editions having returned to Europe’s élite last season (Pot 3). Wolfsburg, Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, Standard de Liège, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni, APOEL and FC Zürich will all be making their debuts in a competition which sees 18 nations represented in the group stage this year.

See also: UCL 2009/10 Draw and Match calendar (UEFA website)

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Group Stage schedule

Group matches will be played on the following dates:

The final will be played at Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid on 22.05.2010.

Will have updates for you once the team of the year and the draw is complete. Till then, speculate away…