The Champions League trophy.
Photo: UEFA Champions League
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With the beginning of a new season of the Champions Leaguethe Paris SG will begin from this week the defense of the title achieved last year, which also aspires all the great European football clubs.
The French club ended a decade of European disappointments with the title achieved in May, after beating in the final 5-0 al Interbecoming the second French team to achieve the Grail, after Marseille (1993).
By squad and for their condition as champion, The PSG is one of the great title candidatesbut it is not easy to keep the crown, as evidenced by the fact that in the last 35 years, only Real Madrid has succeeded.
And the list of candidates to occupy the European throne is long, starting with the six English clubs, demonstrating the current power of the Premier League (Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Y Newcastle), to which the classics join Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter and Juventus.
Most important to end up in the top 8
The most important tournament in the world at club level will repeat the format released last year, With a first phase of 32 teamsin which each one will face eight rivals and a common classification, after which the best 24 will play the title in round rounds.
As already demonstrated in last season, this format offers clubs a greater margin of error. PSG himself qualified for crosses with only four wins and three lossesbut from the crosses he was intractable, successively eliminating Brest, in eighths to Liverpool (leader of the regular phase), Aston Villa, Arsenal and scoring Inter in the final to Inter.
The first objective for the big teams is to end up in the Top 8 and thus ensure the direct pass to the round of 16 (The teams classified from 9 to 24 will have to play a play off).
“Winning five games and drawing one to finish among the eight best is not easy,” said Parisian coach Luis Enrique.
One of the great novelties is that this year it will be more important to end as high as possible in the regular leaguesince at the crosses, the best classified team will have the locality in the return.
The economic awards
In a football also converted into business, clubs will not only fight for sports glory, but also for the large awards that UEFA distributes in its Faro competition.
Just for participating, Each club will enter a minimum of 18.62 million euros (21.8 million dollars), amount that will increase as the tournament progresses. It is estimated that the PSG entered some 150 million euros (176 million dollars) thanks to its title.
Paradoxically, all this makes the tournament that is supposed to represent European football, Be more and more a competition for clubs from great championships.
Of the 36 participating teams, 22 come from the five main leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France) and only 16 federations of the 55 that constitute UEFA are represented in the tournament.
The triumph of the PSG was the first since 2004 (Porto) of a club that did not come from England, Spain, Germany or Italy.
And everything seems to indicate, with a format that favors the great clubs, which, on the other hand, threatens to create a closed parallel competition (the so -called Super League), That the champion on May 30 at Budapest's puskas will leave one of the major leagues.
Great matches from the beginning
But UEFA defends its competition: “This format has come to stay. We are convinced that it will be a resounding success that will eclipse everything we have achieved previously,” said the deputy secretary of the instance, Giorgio Marchetti.
What UEFA is insured are great games every day, starting with the first this week, where the Bayern-Chalsea, Liverpool-Atlético or Kevin's return from Bruyne with Naples to Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City. And a list of stars only comparable to a World Cup.
But not everything is stars, history and money in this tournament. Every year, a handful of modest teams have the opportunity to live the experience of rubbing with the best.
This time the Kairat almatyrival among others from Real Madrid (the capital of Spain is separated into more than 8,000 km from the Kazaja city), The Norwegian Bodo/Glimt (very close to the Arctic Circle) and the Chipriot Paphos, trained by the Spanish Juan Carlos Carcedo.
Programming of the first date of the Champions League 2025/26
Tuesday, September 16:
- PSV Eindhoven vs. Union St-Gilloise (11:45 p.m.) ESPN2
- Athletic vs. Arsenal (11:45 p.m.) Plan Premium Disney+
- Tottenham vs. Villarreal (2:00 PM) Espn3
- Benfica Vs. Qarabag (2:00 PM) Plan Premium Disney+
- Real Madrid vs. Marsella (2:00 p.m.) ESPN
- Juventus vs. Borussia Dortmund (2:00 PM) Espn2
Wednesday, September 17:
- Slavia Praga vs. BODO/GLIMT (11:45 PM) Espn3
- Olympiacos vs. PAFOS FC (11:45 PM) Espn2
- Liverpool vs. Atlético de Madrid (2:00 pm) Premium Disney+ Plan
- Ajax vs. Inter (2:00 p.m.) ESPN2
- Bayern Múnich vs. Chelsea (2:00 PM) ESPN
- PARIS SG vs. Atalanta (2:00 PM) Plan Premium Disney+
Thursday, September 18:
- FC Brujas vs. Monaco (11:45 PM) Espn2
- FC Copenhague vs. Bayer Leverkusen (11:45 p.m.) Plan Premium Disney+
- Manchester City vs. Patolees (2:00 PM) ESPN
- Sporting de Lisboa vs. Kairat Almany (2:00 pm) ESPN3
- Newcastle vs. Barcelona (2:00 p.m.) Plan Premium Disney+
- Eintracht Frankfort vs. Galatasaray (2:00 pm) ESPN2
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