A NEW EUROPEAN ADVENTURE
CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE
A new European adventure begins this
evening for sixteen top European clubs, as
they set out in the 1995/96 UEFA
Champions League. This season once again,
the title-holders and the seven best-placed
teams in UEFA's ranking table are competing
alongside the eight domestic champions
who fought their way through the qualifying
round in August and, with the eight teams,
directly qualified, were divided into four
groups of four teams at the Draw in Geneva
on 25 August. In accordance with the UEFA
Champions League format, group matches
played until December under the champion
ship system, followed by knock-out quarter
finals and semi-finals in the spring of 1996,
will characterize this competition, which has
lent a new dimension to European club foot
ball. Within a short space of time, the UEFA
Chamions League has become a melting pot
in which various footballing trends and practi
ces come together in a modern concept.
In my capacity as President of the
European Football Union, I would like to
congratulate these sixteen top European
teams on their qualification for the 1995/96
UEFA Champions League and wish them
luck for the games ahead-. They have earned
their place among the elite of European foot
ball, by defeating evenly-matched opponents
in the race to win their respective domestic
championship, as well as by beating cham
pions from other countries in the UEFA
Champions League qualifying round.
I join millions of football fans throughout
Europe, in the stadia and in front of their tele
vision screens, in looking forward to open,
competitive matches, played in a spirit of Fair
Play and sportmanship, and expressing the
great diversity and power of attraction of
European club football.
Lennart Johansson
President of UEFA
3
