Champions League: New and Returning Faces in Next Season's Competition

(Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)

First time champions of the Russian league way back in November 2008, Kazan will make their long-awaited Champions League debut when the group stages kick off almost a year after they qualified.

Due to the idiosyncratic scheduling of the Russian league season (which runs from March to the end of November), Kazan will be reaching the climax of their domestic campaign when they make their debut against Europe’s best.

While that might prove an advantage in the early rounds, it did not help Zenit St. Petersburg escape the group stages last season, and fatigue might well hamper Kazan in the last few games of their group.

Unlike Zenit, who could call on the mercurial talent of Andrei Arshavin (now of Arsenal), Kazan seem to lack a real creative threat. Argentinian striker Alejandro Dominguez will be a player opponents legislate for, while Russian international Sergey Semak will attempt to control things from midfield. But overall, the squad is one low on established stars.

Kazan are once again challenging for the top honour in this season’s Russian League (two points off the top with a game in hand after 11 games) and in a competitive league that indicates a certain amount of pedigree.

But the Champions League is more than a step up.

Opponents will be wary of the threat Kazan pose, and certainly won’t fancy an away trip to middle Russia as winter deepens.

Nevertheless, only the most optimistic of fans will expect them to progress beyond the group stages.

CSKA Moscow (Russia)

The second Russian side already in the group stages—UEFA class their league as the equal of those in France and Germany—CSKA Moscow might well prove a more difficult proposition for European opponents than domestic champions Rubin Kazan.

CSKA have a squad of demonstrable quality. In Igor Akinfeev they have one of Europe’s premier goalkeepers, and they provided no less than seven players to Russia’s squad for the recent World Cup qualifier with Finland.

It is with their two influential Brazilians, however, that the majority of their threat will lie. Daniel Carvalho is an attacking midfielder with guile and poise, who possesses the ability to unlock defences at will. Back from a loan spell in his homeland with Internacional, he will hope to make a big impact for his side.

Up front in Wagner Love, CSKA have a truly mercurial striker—at times the 25-year-old is simply unplayable. Thanks in part to Love’s quality, CSKA knocked Aston Villa out of the UEFA Cup last season, and his presence will ensure the side go into the Champions League respected by every team they face.

If they can keep the majority of their star players—they already appear to have lost wide-man Yury Zhirkov to Chelsea—then they could pose a threat to the more renowned members of their group, and may well find their way into the knockout phase.

Unirea Urziceni (Romania)

Former Romanian international defender Dan Petrescu led Unirea Urziceni to their first domestic title in June, following a 1-1 draw with traditional domestic powerhouses (and 1992 European Cup winners) Steaua Bucharest on the final day of the season.

It was Urziceni’s first ever league crown and came after just three seasons in the First Division. Quite an achievement for a club with a stadium capacity of just 7,000, and town population of around 14,000. Unsurprisingly, these statistics make Unirea the smallest club to have qualified so far for the Champions League group stages.

Indeed, their stadium is so small that UEFA have ruled that their European matches will have to be played at Steaua Stadium—Bucharest’s home ground, which holds nearly 30,000—because their own doesn't meet requirements. Even home games might feel like away games for Urziceni.

Consequently, nothing will be expected of the side, with former Chelsea defender Petrescu no doubt expecting nothing more from his side than a good account of themselves.

Few will expect them to finish anything other than last in their group.

Having said that, Urziceni’s predecessor as Romanian champion, CFR Cluj, caused problems for the teams in their group, including holding Chelsea to a draw on home turf.

So while Petrescu and his side will have no expectations, such freedom might well make them dangerous, if only in front of their—admittedly, limited number of—home fans.

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