New and returning faces in the Champions League

Published Jul. 3, 2009 7:52 p.m. ET

foxsports

With new rules in place for qualification this year, UEFA is hopeful that the 2009-10 Champions League will see a host of new teams compete in the tournament, from a greater variety of countries than seen in previous years.

Ironically, with many previously unheralded teams already having earned automatic qualification for the group stages of the competition by triumphing in their respective leagues, UEFA — and, more accurately, Michel Platini — already seem to have gotten their wish, before the revamped qualification stages have even begun.