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More Champions League. But no Totti in 11/12.























The UEFA Champions League kicks off for another season tonight with arguably the strongest field of entrants seen for several years. Since it's inception in 1992, the competition has grown into one of the most successful footballing and commercial ventures in the history of the professional game and has long since supplanted the World Cup and European Championships as the greatest display of soccer talent across the globe. This season's tournament will mark the 20th anniversary of the revamped European Cup and the 57th in total as Europe's premier football competition. Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena will host the final on May 19th, eight years since Germany last hosted a final - FC Porto's 3-0 victory over AS Monaco in Gelsenkirchen in 2004.

Despite persistent critisism of the tournament's group stage format and the emergence of a small cartel of club's actually capable of winning the trophy, there can be no doubt that the level of play is high above that of anything else found throughout Europe and the world. The English Premier League and Spain's Liga BBVA may boast the majority of the world's top players and team's in Italy, Germany and France are beginning to show their intent to join the elite, but the Champions League is the arena in where they all come together; a season-long competition that generates dozens of matches between Europe's best teams in a manner that cannot be replicated in the World Cup, European Championships or Copa America. Teams participating in the Champions League have often been together for many years, play with one another each and every week and are familiar with the systems employed by their repsective managers. One of the barriers to raising the quality of soccer seen at summer tournaments is that squads have comparatively very little time together and therefore fail to work as cohesively as club sides. National team players also find themselves playing at the end of a long, hard season, often with 50-60 games under their belt and it is not suprising that many individuals appear fatigued and lacking in the match-sharpness so evident throughout their club campaign.

There is no doubt then that the Champions League is the place to be for any team or player worth their salt; sponsors reflect such importance in the huge commercial deals struck in order to have their name associated with the competition. Global brands such as Heineken, Mastercard and Sony are principal sponsors and have their name and logo splashed around stadiums across Europe on match days. Cut through the big-business piggy-backing however and you are left with the best that football has to offer. The 2011/2012 season promises to be one of the best yet, with a larger than ever field of potential winners and some unusually strong debutants. FC Barcelona, on the back of their impressive final win last season will be looking to become the first club ever in the Champions League era to retain the trophy; Real Madrid, their fierce rivals on Spanish soil are arguably second favourites behind the Catalans, having fallen at the semi-final stage last season in the Camp Nou. England are strongly represented, with last season's runners-up Manchester United leading the pack ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal and impressive debutants Manchester City. 

Outside of the big two leagues, there is a growing pack of teams looking to join that elite group. German champions Borussia Dortmund, with Jurgen Klopp's young squad will arguably be the most interesting watch during the group stages. Their opening round match at home to Arsenal will be fascinating viewing. Dortmund's Bundesliga counterparts, Bayern Munich, will harbour hopes of a repeat of their 2010 campaign when they reached the final in Madrid, losing out 2-0 to Jose Mourinho's magnificent Internazionale side. An impressive start to their domestic season, especially from striker Mario Gomez bodes well for Jupp Heynckes' side. 

Dortmund - Alot of fun

Inter, having been without Mourinho's genius last season struggled in the knock-out stages; losing humiliatingly to German club Schalke 04. However, with several additions to their already vastly experienced squad, such as Mauro Zarate and Jonathan, as well as the now eligable Giampaolo Pazzini, the Nerazzuri will fancy themselves to reach the latter stages, despite a poor start to their domestic season on Sunday night (a 4-3 defeat to Palermo). Their cross-city neighbours AC Milan however, are better placed to re-establish Italian football at the pinnacle of the European game. Knocked-out by Tottenham at the Round of 16 last season, Massimiliano Allegri has strengthed his squad immensely, with amongst others Phillipe Mexes, Alberto Aquilani and Taye Taiwo joining the Rossoneri and despite being drawn alongside Barcelona, the other two members of Group H, BATE Borisov and Viktoria Plzeň should ensure that they progress regardless of their results against the champions. Napoli represent another tournament debutant and it will be interesting to see who they balance European commitments with their expected title challenge at home. A 3-1 away win at Cesena was a decent start for the Partenopei and in keeping hold of the excellent trio of Marek Hamšík, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani have ensured they will have the necessary squad strength and quality to make a serious impression both domestically and abroad, despite being drawn in the tricky looking Group A along with Bayern, Manchester City and Villarreal.

If there's not enough quality in the aforementioned teams, the pool of clubs just hovering below the established elite includes some incredibly exciting young teams; Lille in France boast the mercurial talents of the wonderful Eden Hazard and Moussa Sow, along with loan signing Joe Cole from Liverpool. Shakhtar Donetsk have an almost 50/50 blend of Brazilians and Ukrainians and have kept hold of coverted players such as Douglas Costa, Willian and Luiz Adriano. Their Group G opponents include FC Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg and is potentially the most intriguing of all groups, with no definitive favourite. APOEL make up the rest of the pool and will doubtless finish at the bottom of the pile come winter. 

Eden Hazard - One to watch

The list goes on, with Marseille, Lyonnais, Benfica and CSKA Moscow all in with a shout of reaching the knock-out stages as they have done in recent seasons. This again shows the great strength in depth that the competition possesses and something that is not seen anywhere else, whether in an international tournament or a domestic league. There may be a well-defined elite group, of which the winner will almost certainly come from, but previous campaigns (think 2004 and 2005) have shown that a team just below the radar is more than capable of making an impact. With such an array of top quality teams present in this years Champions League we can at least be assured that whoever does lift the trophy in Munich next May will have more than proved themselves to be Europe's best. After all, that is what the tournament seeks to establish and this year more than most will provide us with a definitive answer.