Champions League news.. and, no doubt, all the Kopites will be glued to the outcome of the Benfica - PAOK Champions League qualifier tie. Benfica are seeded to progress (into Pot 2, holding a higher coefficient than YKW). Naturally though, if they fail, The Spawny Kopites will benefit to the tune of a Pot 2 place.. I need hardly tell you that Benfica have the tricky second leg away in Greece nor indeed that, tied with Dinamo Kyiv and Schalke04 they spawn the higher ranking based on last season's results (i.e. an extra ranking point somewhere in their campaign). All this means they are bound to face Lokomotiv Moscow, Victoria Plzen and Videoton in the Group Stages as opposed to Barca, Napoli and a tricky trip to Galatasaray (for example).
Ranking order of the 38 sides still involved in the CL.
(6) Bracketed sides are unseeded in the final qualifier
Pot 1 (Ranked 1-8)               coef.
------------------------ --- ---------
Real Madrid              Esp 162.000
Atlético Madrid          Esp 140.000
FC Barcelona             Esp 132.000 
Bayern München           Ger 135.000  
Manchester City          Eng 100.000   
Juventus                 Ita 126.000    
Paris Saint-Germain      Fra 109.000     
Lokomotiv Moscow         Rus  22.500      
Pot 2 (Ranked 9-16)              coef.
------------------------ --- ---------
Borussia Dortmund        Ger  89.000
FC Porto                 Por  86.000
Manchester United        Eng  82.000
Shakhtar Donetsk         Ukr  81.000
Benfica                  Por  80.000 Qualifiers
Napoli                   Ita  78.000
Tottenham Hotspur        Eng  67.000
Roma                     Ita  64.000
Pot 3 (Ranked 17-24)               coef.           
---------- -------------- --- ----------------  
Liverpool                Eng  62.000           
Dinamo Kiev              Ukr  62.000 Qualifiers          
Schalke 04               Ger  62.000           
Olympique Lyon           Fra  59.500           
AS Monaco                Fra  57.000           
FC Salzburg              Aut  55.500 Qualifiers
(Ajax                    Ned  53.500)Qualifiers        
CSKA Moscow              Rus  45.000           
PSV Eindhoven            Ned  36.000 Qualifiers          
Pot 4 (Ranked 25-32)         coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
Valencia                 Esp  36.000
Viktoria Plzen           Cze  33.000
Club Brugge              Bel  29.500
Galatasaray              Tur  29.500
(PAOK Thessaloniki       Gre  29.500)Qualifiers
Young Boys               Sui  20.500 Qualifiers
(BATE Borisov            Bls  20.500)Qualifiers
(Dinamo Zagreb           Cro  17.500)Qualifiers
Internazionale           Ita  16.000
1899 Hoffenheim          Ger  14.285
(Red Star Belgrade       Srb  10.750)Qualifiers
AEK Athens               Gre  10.000 Qualifiers
(Videoton Fehérvár       Hun  4.250) Qualifiers