The most prestigious European football club competition is kicking off on the 14th of September, but before then draws must be made. The draw for the competition is due to take place in Monaco today Thursday 26th 17.00 BST. The draws will be made with the seeding of some ever present clubs and big time performers in recent time like Manchester United, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Lyon and AC Milan. Nine times winner Real Madrid that have under achieved in the competition despite their outrageous spending in the recent years find themselves in pot 2 and could face any of the English side in the group stage, which include Tottenham coming into the elite competition for the first time since 1961-1962, after a long spell of under achieving. Liverpool, the five times winner of the competition will be missing out this time because of their abysmal performance in the English premier league last season, though they have the Europa cup to qualify for. Clubs such as Sevilla, Juventus, Celtic and Olympiacos will also be missing out this time. Africa will be well represented by players who ply their trade in Italy, England and Russia, but bulk of them will be from the prestigious English premier league. Some of the expected African players are:
• Michael Essein
• Solomn Kalou
• Mikel Obi
• Drogba
• Roberto Song
• Emmanuel Eboue
• Sule Muntari
• Samuel Eto’o
• Assou-Ekotto
Gone are those days when Nigeria used to have a lot of representative in the competition, the football in Nigeria has nosedived that most of the national team players play in clubs that struggle for survival in their leagues rather than fighting for honours. Will the football in Nigeria see its glorious days again?
