2008/09 Champions League kicks off

2008/09 Champions League kicks off

Today, Tuesday July 1st, the 2008/09 edition of the Champions League has officially kicked off. Indeed the draw to establish the first two preliminary rounds' match-ups took place earlier this afternoon in Nyon, Switzerland.

As many as 42 teams are involved: the 28 teams who will play on July 15/16 and 22/23 to try and go through the next round, but also the 14 teams who have already secured a place in the second round.

Juventus will only start playing in the third round, but they are interested in these first two rounds too, as one of the teams qualifying after the second round (to be played on July 29/30 and August 6/7) could eventually face the Bianconeri for a place in the main event.

The dates that most interest us are: August 1st, the day of the third round draw, August 12/13, when the first leg will be played, and August 26/27, when the second leg will take place.

Here are the fixtures in full:

First round – first leg July 15/16, second leg July 22/23

Game 1 Linfield (Northern Ireland) - Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Game 2 Valletta (Malta) - Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia)
Game 3 Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) - NSÍ Runakiv (Far Oer)
Game 4 Santa Coloma (Andorra) - FBK Kaunas (Lithuania)
Game 5 Murata (San Marino) - IFK Göteborg (Sweden)
Game 6 Llanelli (Wales) - Ventspils (Latvia)
Game 7 Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus) - Pyunik Yerevan (Armenia)
Game 8 Inter Baku (Azerbaijan) - Rabotnièki (Macedonia)
Game 9 Tampere United (Finland) - Buduænost (Montenegro)
Game 10 F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg) - Domžale (Slovenia)
Game 11 Dinamo Tirana (Albania) - Madrica (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Game 12 Aktobe (Kazakhstan) - Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)
Game 13 Drogheda United (Ireland) - Levadia Tallinn (Estonia)
Game 14 Bate Borisov (Belorus) - Valur (Iceland)

Second round – first leg July 29/30, second leg August 5/6

Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) - Winner, Game 4
Brann (Norway) - Winner, Game 6
Winner, Game 8 - Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Winner, Game 7 - Rapid Wien (Austria)
Winner, Game 9 - Winner, Game 2
Winner, Game 10 - Winner, Game 1
Panathinaikos (Greece) - Winner, Game 3
Winner, Game 5 - Basel (Switzerland)
Winner, Game 12 - Sparta Praha (Czech Republic)
Winner, Game 13 - Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)
Anderlecht (Belgium) - Winner, Game 14
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) - Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Fenerbahçe (Turkey) - MTK Hungária (Hungary)
Aalborg (Denmark) - Winner, Game 11