Arsenal and Manchester United have retained their place among the elite group of top seeds for next season's Champions League despite a shake-up in UEFA's seeding system - but both Chelsea and Liverpool will almost certainly have to settle for being one of the second seeds.
It means that Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson can plan for the group stage of the tournament, knowing they will avoid any of the four Spanish sides and reigning champions Porto.
The Gunners and Chelsea are already in the hat for the draw in Monaco on August 26, with United and Liverpool needing to win a two-legged qualifier to join them.
UEFA have changed their co-efficient system this summer to give more weight to an individual club's performances in Europe and less to how all clubs from a particular country have done overall.
The biggest effect has been on Liverpool, who were among the top seeds after qualifying for the 2002-03 Champions League but who fall in the ranking because they have played in Europe's top club competition only twice in the last five years.
Fourth
United are ranked fourth in Europe behind Spanish trio Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Next come Bayern Munich, Deportivo La Coruna, Arsenal and Porto, and all eight clubs will be in the top-seeded pot in the draw - although Real, United and La Coruna all need to qualify first - and therefore avoid each other in the group stage.
Chelsea and Liverpool will be among the pot of second seeds along with Italian clubs AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Internazionale.
Celtic and, should they qualify, Rangers are likely to be among the third pot of seeds.
Meanwhile, UEFA today confirmed that the draw for the third qualifying round of the Champions League to decide on the final 16 clubs to take part in the tournament will see seeded sides drawn against unseeded teams.
As a result, United and Liverpool will not face the likes of Real Madrid or Juventus but one of the smaller clubs who have come through from the second qualifying round.
UEFA's club co-efficients 2004-05: 1 Real Madrid* 146.35, 2 Valencia 139.35, 3 Barcelona 134.35,
4 Manchester United* 119.51, 5 Bayern Munich 105.33, 6 Deportivo La Coruna* 104.35, 7 Arsenal 103.51, 8 Porto 99.99, 9 AC Milan 99.53, 10 Liverpool* 90.51, 11 Juventus* 84.53, 12 Internazionale* 82.53, 13 Roma 78.53, 14 Lyon 70.95, 15 Chelsea 67.51, 16 PSV Eindhoven* 65.23.
Others: 19 Celtic 60.60, 25 Rangers* 42.60.
have to qualify.
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Please go out there and sign a proven winger and a playmaker. Matches without Ronaldo last season were dull and poor. United just cannot seem to attack in the final third and we cannot rely solely on ronaldo dis season. So pleaseeeeeeee....... go out there and get some gd attacking players. Our play is just poor, Ruud is always without support, nobody seems to be able to dribble thru tight defence except ron of coz. I really dun see how our new signings can change the boring football United is playing. Hope Carlos will bring in some new ideas and prove me Wrong......
The way this club is run,concerns me greatly.Gill has given Alex his full support,but what must the board think in private.We seem to be going nowhere.Spurs have a new manager who has them training at 7am in the morning,the new Chelsea boss has given his players a set of rules like the army,a fully disciplined squad is a worry to us.Also the fact we have failed to sign one world class star,things need to change the board and the Manager are no longer up for the job.The fans need to see something positive coming from the club not just new shirts.
I think we are going in the right direction but i do agree we still need if not a couple at least one big signing every season. we need to show that Russian,perez where we stand at the moment Gill is constantly showing the white flag to our opponents i.e "we can not compete with Chelsea".Gill wants us to go out next season all guns blazing give us the Fxxxxxx firepower.Now he starts to tell everyone we are constantly looking for a new boss for goods sake man are you trying unerve the season before its starts.This is war like the cold war, we need to show we can buy when we want. Real are not that well of Financially but they still buy big. The russian does not know whats he is doing but we have told him you are better than us. What the bloody hell is going on. Last season was so frustrating, we are under threat again due to Ranoldo of to Athens i think Heinz also. Please we really need to sort things out we have conceded before the season starts.
Valencia and barcelona didn't even play in the champions league last season and they're still above us in the ranking. let's face up to it until we get a mediteranean climate and politics we'll never be the best.
Excellent. For all those so-called "fans" that accuse the club they purport to support as "a joke" or "a disgrace" or all the tabloid hacks (and the fans that believe them) whose mantra of "first is first and second is nowhere" (which owes far more to the marketing of media sales than it does to a proper, rigorous assessment of a club's overall quality when compared with its peers), these figures are testament to the fact that Manchester United has been for the last ten years and continues to be at the top table of European football.
Obviously these seedings are worked out on creativity. Zidane, Ronaldinho, Aimar, Chadwick...
Oh well at least on paper we can still be a force to be reckoned with. Lets hope we can mount a good challenge this season and at least keep our champions league status for the following season. I think we may have to replace the influential Roy Keane by then, and possibly find a replacement for Giggsy!!