The UEFA Champions League is the top honor that all European football clubs dream of. Those who can participate in this event are the top teams in various national leagues. In the beginning, this event only allowed the first place in each national league to participate, not even the second place. At that time, the Champions League was a veritable European Champions League, and those who can participate in each national league are champions. Later, after several restructurings, it is now renamed the UEFA Champions League. The quota of teams that can participate in this event has also changed, and it is no longer every country.

Only the league champion can participate. In order to allow more powerful teams to participate and expand the influence of the Champions League, UEFA has allocated different quotas for different leagues. The countries to which teams that perform well in the Champions League belong can often be divided into several more places. For example, there are up to four places in the Premier League, while the Bundesliga believes that only Bayern Munich has performed well for a long time, and most other Bundesliga teams cannot even play in the group stage, so the quota has been reduced to three, and the third place can only participate in the Champions League qualifiers.

Bayern Munich played this season through the playoffs. They defeated Timisoara (fc_timisoara) with a total score of 2:0 in two rounds and advanced to the main game.

Hoffenheim directly qualified to participate in the Champions League as the Bundesliga champion.

This is one thing worthy of a big book in the history of Hoffenheim Club.

In recent days, local media in Sinsheim have been talking about this. Sinsheim residents couldn't hide their excitement when interviewed by German TV: "I can't wait to know the result of the lottery. We can see the wonderful performances of those European giants at our doorstep, and it feels like we are dreaming!"

"In the past, if someone told me that I could see a team like Barcelona without having to go out of Sinsheim, I would definitely think he was crazy. But now... hehe!"

"I really want to watch Messi play football, I like him!"

"Kaka is really handsome!"

...Fans always want to enjoy the performances of big-name stars, and for the team, their goals are different, and they hope to leave their own footprints in the Champions League.

"We will let the whole of Europe know where Hoffenheim is." Before the lottery ceremony, Hoffenheim's captain Chu Zhongtian said confidently in an interview.

Before the live draw ceremony, German TV station specially made a special program to introduce the new Champions League champion Hoffenheim to Europe.

In fact, many media from other countries are also very concerned about Hoffenheim. They have specially opened columns to introduce this new Bundesliga championship to readers and audiences. However, their understanding of this team is not very good, and there is nothing to say. Just introduce it in general, and Hoffenheim has a very rich boss. Hoffenheim played offensive football last season, and Hoffenheim won the Bundesliga championship... They can't even report Hoffenheim's main lineup.

This is what Hoffenheim is facing - the whole of Europe is interested in them, but they don't know them well enough. For other European teams, they are still mysterious teachers.

Many people don't even know why Hoffenheim beat Bayern and Wolfsburg. They blamed all this for Bayern Munich's nap last season - their information was lagging behind, and obviously they don't know what Hoffenheim beat Bayern Munich in the first round of the league.

It was in this case that Rangnick and the club's general manager Rothouse flew to Monaco to participate in the Champions League group stage draw ceremony.

Before the draw ceremony, the Champions League divisions of 32 teams have already come out. The Champions League divisions are based on European points in the past five seasons, including the Champions League and the League Cup. The 32 teams have divided the first tier from high to low tier according to European points from high to low tier eight teams.

Because Hoffenheim has never had a record in European competition and naturally has no European competition points, although he was the Bundesliga champion last season, he was assigned to the fourth-level team and is likely to be assigned to the death group with strong players.

Regarding this prospect, Ribery called Chu Zhongtian specifically to express his gloating.

Chu Zhongtian's answer made him feel bored: "This is exactly what I dream of, Frank. I like to play against those strong teams. It's best if it's Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan are all in the same group with us, haha!"

Ribery: "…"

※※※On the afternoon of the Champions League draw, the team ended the training in advance and asked the players to go home to watch the live broadcast of the lottery ceremony. Chu Zhongtian greeted everyone, drove back home, turned on the TV, and prepared to watch the live broadcast.

I'm afraid no one cares more about the lottery results than him.

During the TV broadcast, he saw Rangnick and the club's general manager Rothouse. The TV broadcast specially gave close-up shots of the two people. The host of the TV program introduced: "The head coach of Hoffenheim, Hoffenheim, from Germany, and Johen Rothouse, the club's general manager, will be the most popular dark horse in the Champions League this season. Last season, they won the championship prize plate of the German Football League as a newly promoted team, shocking the whole of Germany. What kind of performance will they perform in the Champions League now?"

Hearing the host praise his team so much, Chu Zhongtian laughed in front of the TV, and his vanity was greatly satisfied.

The award ceremony was held before the lottery ceremony, and awards were awarded for the European Championship last season.

The Champions League champion last season, Spain's Barcelona Club became the biggest winner, and their club won three awards: Best Player, Best Forward and Best Midfielder.

Xavi won the best midfielder, the best forward and best player are both Messi, who scored nine goals.

The best goalkeeper belongs to Manchester United's Van der Sar, and the best defender is Chelsea's Terry.

Live TV broadcasts constantly give Barcelona players close-ups, and they are the most glorious tonight.

Barcelona was the triple-champion of European football last season. They won the domestic league championship, the Spanish Cup of del Rey and the Champions League. It deserves its reputation for winning so many grand prizes.

If nothing unexpected happens, this year's European Golden Ball Awards and World Football Masters are also Messi's.

When will I be able to stand on such a stage? Chu Zhongtian thought to himself as he looked at Messi, who was a little shy when smiling on TV.

The lottery ceremony begins after the award ceremony.

Table tennis balls containing the names of thirty-two teams are packed in four transparent boxes, which represent four different grades. The guests will appear one after another, draw different teams from the boxes, then take the seats in the same seats and put them in different groups.

Chu Zhongtian has been staring at the first-class box. Which wealthy club will Hoffenheim be in the same group? It will definitely not be Bayern Munich, because teams from the same country cannot be in the same group.

Chu Zhongtian himself doesn't want to be in the same group as Bayern Munich. If he wants to play Bayern Munich, it's enough to be in the Bundesliga. To be honest, when he always encounters Bayern, Chu Zhongtian is a little aesthetically exhausted. He longs to meet those opponents he has never met before, such as... Barcelona.

The head coaches of 32 European teams gathered together, and the camera cameras swept through the audience at will, and several familiar faces that jumped into their eyes.

The draw officially began, and the seeds were first drawn. The seeds in the first group were Bayern Munich, the representative of German football. The second group was Manchester United and AC Milan in the third group. The fourth group was Chelsea. The fifth group was Liverpool, the sixth group was defending champion Barcelona, ​​the seventh group was Sevilla, and the eighth group was Arsenal.

After the first-level team is drawn, it is the second-level team.

Juventus was drawn to the first group and was in the same group with Bayern Munich, which was the first strong dialogue.

As the second-level team, CSKA Moscow was drawn to the second group, in the same group as Manchester United.

When the team in the same group with AC Milan was drawn out, laughter and applause broke out in the hall for the first time because the host read out the name of the team very clearly: "Real Madrid."

The camera quickly passed through AC Milan's head coach Leonardo and Real Madrid's head coach Pellegrini's face. This summer, Real Madrid spent a huge amount of money to poach Kaka from AC Milan to win the Champions League core character in the first two seasons. These two teams were assigned to the same group, which means Kaka will face his old club, which is quite interesting. Originally, Real Madrid invited AC Milan to AC Milan in this season's Bernabeu Cup, but unfortunately AC Milan gave up participating because of the conflict between the Bernabeu Cup and the domestic league schedule, otherwise Kaka would have met with his old club earlier.

When thinking of Kaka, Chu Zhongtian will think of his European Super Cup, where he ran long distance and then destroyed Kaka's shot. Now he still feels very happy... This is the European arena... The reason why Real Madrid is the second-level team is because their performance in the Champions League has not been ideal in recent years and has always stopped in the quarter-finals.

The draw continues. Porto from Portugal was assigned to the fourth group, with Chelsea.

French overlord Lyon and Liverpool are in the fifth group.

When Mourinho's coaching Inter Milan and Barcelona were assigned to the same group, everyone laughed. Mourinho can be regarded as Barcelona's old enemy. Although he is from Barcelona, ​​he seems to have no feelings for this old club. When Barcelona mentions him, he always says he is a "translator". Mourinho played against Barcelona several times when he coached Chelsea, with more wins and less losses. And every time his team meets Barcelona, ​​both sides can always spark sparks, and there are highlights on the outside and inside the court. Everyone even doubts whether Mourinho's team is planning to fight Barcelona so frequently. Because this is the highlights and everyone likes to watch.

The seventh group is the same group as Glasgow Wanderers and Sevilla from Scotland. The second-level team in the eighth group is Alkmaar from the Eredivisie.

Next, the teams in the third level were drawn, from the first group to the eighth group, Bordeaux in Ligue 1, Besiktas, Marseille in Ligue 1, La Liga 1, Atletico Madrid, Serie A Fiorentina, Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine, Wolfsburg in Bundesliga, and Olympiacos from Greece.

It was the fourth-level team. Chu Zhongtian sat upright and stared at the TV screen. Judging from the current grouping, he was most interested in only two groups, one was Group C of AC Milan, Real Madrid and Marseille, the other was Group F of Inter Milan coached by the triple champions Barcelona and Mourinho. Only the opponents of these two groups were strong enough.

Chu Zhongtian didn't know that the head coach Rangnick, who was sitting in the venue at this time, kept muttering in his heart, hoping to avoid Group C and Group F. It would be best to be assigned to the last group. At present, only Arsenal would definitely advance, and neither Alkmar nor Olympiacos would pose much threat to Hoffenheim. As long as he performs normally, Hoffenheim should be able to advance as the second in the group.

The first fourth-level team to be drawn is Haifa Maccabi from the Israeli League. This team is a typical bottom in the Israeli League, but when they come to the European arena, they may only count on the unstable domestic situation, and playing in that dangerous place may distract the visiting teams - so is the case.

It's the turn to draw the last team in Group B.

The lottery guest unscrew the ping-pong ball in his hand, then spread the note and took a look, and then handed it to the host.

The host took the note and looked at it, then smiled and showed it to the camera: "Last season's Bundesliga champion - Hoffenheim. This is the darkest dark horse in the Champions League this season. They will be in the same group as Manchester United, CSKA, and Besiktas."

"Manchester United!"

Chu Zhongtian clenched his fists and it was also good to play with Manchester United.

The TV broadcast footage gave Manchester United coach Ferguson and Hoffenheim coach Rangnick a close-up. Ferguson was talking with the club CEO David Gill sitting next to him, while glanced at the group results on the big screen. Rangnick seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. In his opinion, this group is not bad, Manchester United will definitely qualify, and the remaining three teams will compete for the second place in the group. Besiktas and CSKA Moscow still have a win chance, and the winning chance may be relatively large.

Hoffenheim's draw result has come out, and Chu Zhongtian is no longer interested in paying attention to other teams. He took out his cell phone and called Emily and told her that his team was going to challenge the most successful team and coach in Premier League history.

"Go to the UK? Then you can call Boss John and the others!" Emily was very excited when she heard that Chu Zhongtian was going to the UK to participate in the competition again.

Of course, Chu Zhongtian had to call.

After calling Emily, Chu Zhongtian called Boss John. When the phone was connected, he could hear the noisy sounds there, just as before, as if he was still working there.

"Hello!" Boss John almost greeted him with a shouting voice. "This is a Wimbledon bar!"

"Hi, Boss John, I'm Chu..."

"Chu?!" Boss John over there was shocked.

Then Chu Zhongtian could hear the sudden quietness over there.

"You boy... remember to call us?"

"Ha..." Chu Zhongtian scratched his head and smiled.

"Is it really Chu?"

"The big star who walked out of the Wimbledon bar!"

"Let me listen to his voice, I will tell you that I can hear whether it is true or impersonating! My voice to him is very, very..."

"Okay, you all whisper! I can't hear what he says!" Boss John yelled, and the other side became quiet again.

"I haven't said anything yet, Boss John." Chu Zhongtian smiled. "Are you watching the Champions League draw ceremony?"

"Ha, of course, we're talking about you. Are you coming to England?"

"Yes, Boss John."

"It's a pity that it's not a match against Chelsea or Arsenal... But don't worry, we will go to Old Trafford to watch you play!"

"That's right!"

"It's more realistic than going to Germany to Manchester, haha!"

"You do a good job in Germany, Chu! We often hear the name of your team here. Last season's Bundesliga champion? It sounds very handsome!" Boss John whistled. "Sometimes when I see your name on the news, I can't believe that you are the Chinese student who has worked here, ha!"

"John, John..." someone shouted on the other end of the phone.

"What are you doing!" Boss John seemed dissatisfied with someone disturbing him and Chu Zhongtian's reminiscence.

"Tell him about our team..."

"Oh, yes! Do you know, Chu? Wimbledon won the South Division of the England North and South League this summer! We entered the England National League! This is the fifth league!" When it comes to Wimbledon Sports, the old man became more energetic, his voice was obviously louder than before. But through the sound, Chu Zhongtian could imagine what expression was on Boss John's face at this moment.

"Do you know what it is to go up one level? Chu? It's the second division! Professional league! The 'crazy gang' is coming back, Chu! It's coming back!"

"Yes! We're coming back!!" More people shouted on the other end of the phone.

"Mad Gang! Mad Gang!! The frightening Mad Gang is coming back!"

"This time, I'm really going back!"

In the summer of 2002, at the simple Kings Ranch Stadium, the voice of the fans shouting together seemed to echo in Chu Zhongtian's ears: "Return to where you should go, go to the top league! Return to where you should go, Southwest London!!"

Now seven years have passed, Chu Zhongtian has become a professional player, and Wimbledon Athletics, an amateur team in the Ninth League back then, is only one step away from the professional league.

In fact, it doesn’t take John’s to tell him that he knows these things. As a paid member of Wimbledon Athletic Club, he has always cared about his own parent team. He sees the progress of Wimbledon Athletic every year.

He originally called back and told everyone that he was coming back, but in the end he was rushing to tell him that they were coming back.

In the end, Boss John and Chu Zhongtian agreed that when Chu Zhongtian led the team back to England, they would go and support him, and they hope that on the day when Wimbledon successfully advances to the English League Two, Chu Zhongtian will come back as a guest to meet everyone.

Such a request was not difficult for Chu Zhongtian, so he agreed. In fact, he also wanted to wait until that day to see the team he had played for.

※※※ Attached: 09-10 Champions League group:

Group a: Bayern Munich (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Bordeaux (France), Maccabi Haifa (Israel); Group b: Manchester United (England), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Beshiktas (Turkey), Hoffenheim (Germany); Group c: AC Milan (Italy), Real Madrid (Spain), Marseille (France), Zurich (Switzerland); Group d: Chelsea (England), Porto (Portugal), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Nicosia apoel (Cyprus); e

Group: Liverpool (England), Lyon (France), Florence (Italy), Debrecen (Hungary); Group f: Barcelona (Spain), Inter Milan (Italy), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine), Kazan Ruby (Russia); Group g: Sevilla (Spain), Glasgow Wanderers (Scotland), Wolfsburg (Germany), Urzicheni (Romania); Group h: Arsenal (England), Alkmar (Netherlands), Olympiacos (Greece), Standard Liege (Belgium).
Chapter completed!