© EuroFootball.com
On Thursday evening, the UEFA Champions League group stage draws were revealed, dividing the 32 most powerful teams of the Old Continent into eight groups of four.
An exception was made for the Istanbul team "Fenerbahce", which triumphed in the Turkish championships but got involved in a corruption scandal and by decision of the country's federation was disqualified from participating in the tournament. In place of this club, the runner-up "Trabzonspor" will compete.
This season, the participants of the main tournament will share about 750 million euros.
The group stage will start on September 13-14. The group stage will end on December 14-15, and the knockout matches will begin in mid-February.
The final is planned for May 19, 2012, in Munich, Germany.
Group A:
Munich "Bayern" (Germany) "Villarreal" (Spain) "Man City" (England) "Napoli" (Italy)
Group B:
Milan "Inter" (Italy) Moscow CSKA (Russia) "Lille" (France) "Trabzonspor" (Turkey)
Group C:
"Man Utd" (England) Lisbon "Benfica" (Portugal) "Basel" (Switzerland) Galati "Otelul" (Romania)
Group D:
Madrid "Real" (Spain) "Lyon" (France) Amsterdam "Ajax" (Netherlands) Zagreb "Dinamo" (Croatia)
Group E:
London "Chelsea" (England) "Valencia" (Spain) Leverkusen "Bayer" (Germany) "Genk" (Belgium)
Group F:
London "Arsenal" (England) "Marseille" (France) Piraeus "Olympiakos" (Greece) Dortmund "Borussia" (Germany)
Group G:
"Porto" (Portugal) Donetsk "Shakhtar" (Ukraine) St. Petersburg "Zenit" (Russia) Nicosia APOEL (Cyprus)
Group H:
"Barcelona" (Spain) "Milan" (Italy) Barysaw BATE (Belarus) Plzen "Viktoria" (Czech Republic)
