UEFA held the group stage draw for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League in Monaco on August 30. Barcelona was drawn in Group G alongside Benfica of Portugal, Spartak Moscow of Russia, and Celtic of Scotland. Chelsea was drawn in Group H along with Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, Italian champions Juventus, and German club Bayer Leverkusen.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the round of 16. The third-place team will have the opportunity to play a one-off match against the fourth-placed team from another group for a spot in the next round.
The winners of the round of 16 will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will be matched up with the best runners-up from the previous season's competition. The four semi-finalists will then progress to the final in London where their paths will cross again.
Barcelona is the most successful club in Europe with five titles. It is followed by Real Madrid with four, Bayern Munich and Juventus with three apiece, and Arsenal, A.C. Milan, Cristiano Ronaldo's club, Portugal, and Dortmund with two wins each.
Of the seven clubs that have won the most European Cups, six are still active.
Teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2012-13. On August 30th, 2012, the group stage draw was place in Monaco. The 32 clubs were divided into four pots based on their 2012 UEFA club coefficients, with Chelsea automatically placed in Pot 1. The other English teams were drawn into three groups of eight teams.
The group stages began on September 13th and ended on November 19th. Each group winner will be determined by a knockout tie between all group winners, with the exception of Pot 2 which only has four teams and so the two best runners-up will advance. The matches will be played over two legs; if scores are equal after regulation time has been played, then extra time will be used to determine the winner. If scores still remain tied after extra time has been played, a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winner.
The last 16 ties will be played in January and February 2013. These matches will also be two-legged, with the away goals rule applying after 90 minutes have been played. If scores are level at the end of normal time, the match will proceed directly to a penalty shoot-out.
The quarter-finals will be played over two legs in March and April 2013. Like the last 16, if scores are level after 90 minutes have been played, the match will proceed directly to a penalty shoot-out.
Spain was assigned to Group C, along with Italy, Croatia, and the Republic of Ireland, and will play Italy on June 10, 2012. In the 61st minute, striker Antonio Di Natale, who had replaced Mario Balotelli, gave Italy the lead. In the 89th minute, Spain tied the game up at 1-1 when David Silva scored an own goal.
Spain went on to win 2-1 after a late strike from Xabi Alonso. The victory ensured that Spain will continue into the next stage of the tournament.
Di Natale has been called up by Italy for their final group match against Spain. He is expected to replace Balotelli in the lineup.
Spain's victory also means that they will face Germany in the second round. The match will be played on June 16 at Stade de France in Paris. Germany won the last meeting between these two countries 2-0 back in November 2009.
Italy ended their first group stage campaign without a single point. They will meet Denmark in the third place playoff on June 14 at Polideportivo Stadium in Madrid. Denmark beat Italy 4-3 away from home in their only previous meeting this year.
Ireland drew 0-0 with Croatia in their opening match and will face Spain in the fifth place playoff on June 19 at San Mamés Stadium in Madrid.
The group stage draw was held on November 30, 2003, at the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon, Portugal, with the 16 finalists divided into four groups. The UEFA national team coefficient was used to determine pot allocations, which assessed teams' performance in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification and UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying. Teams were seeded according to their 2001 UEFA country coefficients, with France, Germany, Italy, and Spain each given rankings of 1–4. Teams from the same country could not be drawn against each other.
In addition to the four group winners, which automatically qualified for the final tournament, the remaining 12 countries entered into two separate qualifying rounds to determine the remaining spots in the final standings. These rounds were played over a three-year cycle, with the final round scheduled for 2008. For political reasons, Russia could not enter until 2006 even though it had become a member of UEFA in 1992. Additionally, Ukraine and Belarus did not become full members until late 1999 and early 2000 respectively. However, since both countries are considered as Europe's last communist states, they were allowed to participate under a neutral flag. Despite this, neither nation managed to qualify for the final tournament.
Ukraine finished third in its group after losing all three matches, while Belarus failed to win any of its games and was eliminated from contention during the last year of the cycle. As a result, neither country was permitted to replace them, leaving Russia as the only former Soviet republic to have never reached the final tournament.
All 53 UEFA national teams competed in qualifying for one of the 13 European Zone spots in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. On July 30, 2011, the qualification groups were drawn during the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Despite the victory and Germany's victory against the US, Portugal ended below the US on goal differential and was eliminated along with Ghana, who failed to reach the knockout round for the first time in three attempts.
All 53 UEFA national teams competed in qualifying for one of the 13 European Zone spots in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. On July 30, 2011, the qualification groups were drawn during the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The European Zone of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup included 53 teams vying for 13 spots in the finals in Brazil.
The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four, like in UEFA EURO 2016. The top two teams in each group, as well as the four best third-placed teams, proceed to the knockout round. The host cities were selected at random from six separate lists of city pairs based on sporting power and geographical consideration. The first draw was held on 6 December 2013 with the second taking place on 9 December 2014.
All times are CET/CEST.
Group A: Budapest/Debrecen; Group B: Dublin/Lisbon; Group C: Munich/Nuremberg; Group D: Paris/Rome; Group E: Warsaw/Zagreb; Group F: Zürich/Zagreb.
On Tuesday, July 23, 1957, the preliminary round draw was conducted at the offices of the French Football Federation in Paris. Real Madrid earned a bye as the defending champion, while the remaining 23 clubs were divided into three pots based on geography. Clubs from the same country could not be drawn against each other, but teams from different countries could be paired up.
For the first time since the inception of the European Cup, there were no British clubs in the tournament. This was due to concerns over the safety of its players after five members of the English team died during the previous season. The deaths of players on foreign soil prompted the English football federation to call off the tour until further notice.
The preliminary round draw was done by former France international footballer Charles Drago. The winner of this stage would advance to the quarter-finals. If two or more teams were tied after their matches had finished, then a tiebreaker match would be played at a predetermined location. For example, if A and B are the only tied teams, then game 1 will be played at stadium A, game 2 at stadium B, and so on until a winner is found. If none of these games result in a victory, then a penalty shoot-out will determine the winner.
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