There is a new Sheriff in the Champions League draw, which was to be held after press time last night, with Moldova gaining its first entry in the group stage alongside rebel clubs who tried to launch their own elite breakaway.
Sheriff on Wednesday advanced easily with a 0-0 draw against Dinamo Zagreb after winning 3-0 in the home leg of their playoff last week.
The low-ranked club from Tiraspol in the breakaway region of Transnistria had to get through all four qualifying rounds to reach the groups.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Sheriff have won the Moldovan title in 19 of the past 21 seasons and have finally secured a place alongside Europe’s most storied teams.
The draw includes 10 of the 12 clubs whose owners in April tried to launch their own European Super League.
Moldova is typically described as the poorest country in Europe and Sheriff are to earn about 16 million euros (US$18.8 million) in guaranteed prize money from UEFA.
Photo: EPA-EFE
RB Salzburg returned to the group stage with a 4-2 aggregate score against Brondby, adding a 2-1 win in Denmark to victory by the same score in Austria last week.
Brenden Aaronson’s 10th-minute goal for Salzburg on Wednesday followed his 90th-minute winner in the first leg.
Shakhtar Donetsk edged past AS Monaco 3-2 on aggregate in extra-time thanks to a bizarre own-goal in the 114th minute.
The ball deflected off Monaco’s Ruben Aguilar and looped over the goalkeeper into the net to seal a 2-2 draw on the night in Ukraine after the Ligue 1 side led 2-0 in the first half.
UEFA has abolished the away-goals rule, which would have taken Monaco through after 90 minutes.
The group draw was to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus to play in this Champions League while still fighting tournament organizer UEFA in court for the right to organize a rival competition.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg is now considering the rebels’ case after they won a decision from a local judge in Madrid to stall UEFA from disciplining them.
Nine more clubs — including seven in the draw — renounced their Super League membership after agreeing to UEFA’s settlement terms, including paying fines and forfeiting some of their prize money for next season.
Still, the Super League clubs are good box office.
They include eight former European champions owning a combined 41 titles.
Seven-time winners AC Milan are to play their first Champions League game since March 2014 when the groups start on Sept. 14 and 15.
There are some unusually low-ranked teams among the top-seeded clubs. Top status is given to the Champions League and Europa League title-holders, plus winners of the six highest-ranked domestic leagues.
That means Ligue 1 champions Lille OSC are among the top seeds, despite being the lowest-ranked team of all 32 in the draw, just as they were two years ago when losing five of six games.
Europa League winners Villarreal and Portuguese champions Sporting also have relatively low rankings.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two