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Friday, August 28, 2009

You are welcome: 2009/2010 Champions League to feature eight debutants

The 2009/2010 Champions League main competition will feature eight debutants, the largest number since the 1999/2000 season, which saw the competition expanded to the current number of 32 participants.


AZ, Rubin Kazan, Standard Liège, Unirea Urziceni, VfL Wolfsburg, FC Zürich, APOEL Nicosia and Debreceni VSC are all about to embark on their maiden Champions League campaign.


Accorindg to Infostrada Sports, the last newcomers to survive the group phase were Sevilla FC in 2007/2008. The last debutants to reach the final were Valencia CF in 1999/2000.


Best results Champions League debutants – by season

Season Clubs New Best debutant(s) Reached


2009/2010 32 8 AZ (NED), Rubin Kazan (RUS), Standard Liège (BEL), Unirea Urziceni (ROU), VfL Wolfsburg (GER), FC Zürich (SUI), APOEL Nicosia (CYP), Debreceni VSC (HUN) TBD


2008/2009 32 4 Anorthosis Famagusta (CYP), BATE Borisov (BLR), CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU), Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS) Group phase


2007/2008 32 2 Sevilla FC (ESP) Last 16


2006/2007 32 2 FC København (DEN), Levski Sofia (BUL) Group phase


2005/2006 32 5 Villarreal CF (ESP) Semi-finals


2004/2005 32 1 Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) Group phase


2003/2004 32 4 VfB Stuttgart (GER), Celta de Vigo (ESP), Real Sociedad (ESP) Last 16


2002/2003 32 3 FC Basel (SUI) Group phase 2


2001/2002 32 7 Liverpool (ENG) Quarter-finals


2000/2001 32 7 Leeds United (ENG) Semi-finals


1999/2000 32 11 Valencia CF (ESP) Runners-up


1998/1999 24 9 Internazionale (ITA), 1. FC Kaiserslautern (GER) Quarter-finals


1997/1998 24 10 Bayer Leverkusen (GER) Quarter-finals


1996/1997 16 5 AJ Auxerre (FRA), Atlético Madrid (ESP) Quarter-finals


1995/1996 16 11 Juventus (ITA) Winners


1994/1995 16 10 Ajax (NED) Winners


1993/1994 8 6 FC Barcelona (ESP) Runners-up


1992/1993 8 8 Olympique Marseille (FRA) Winners

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