Group stage nears completion

National champions
Valencia and Ajax both advanced as national champions, while Chelsea will finish second in the Premiership having drawn 1-1 on Saturday at Manchester United FC, who are in the third qualifying round. SV Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga on Saturday but were already guaranteed a place among the élite 16 along with AC Milan, AS Roma, Arsenal FC, FC Porto and Celtic FC.

Finalists Porto
Panathinaikos FC and Olympiacos CFP will also definitely be in the first 16 for the 2004/05 staging of Europe's premier club competition, although they are still vying for the Alpha Ethniki title. Of the eleven, Porto are the only side who could still qualify as holders instead of domestic champions, having progressed to the final of this season's edition.

Fenerbahçe on top
SL Benfica, PSV Eindhoven and Fenerbahçe SK, crowned champions of Turkey yesterday, are assured places in the third qualifying round, alongside Juventus FC, Rangers FC, Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht, Czech champions FC Baník Ostrava, Swiss champions FC Basel and the champions of Israel, Maccabi Haifa FC.

Four more
FK Crvena Zvezda, in Serbia and Montenegro, and PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv, in Bulgaria, were the other title winners this weekend, while Club Brugge KV and Trabzonspor secured second place in their top flights. This quartet will start off in the second qualifying round. In total, 16 clubs will progress from qualifying into the group stage.

In position
Details of all the teams presently in position to qualify for the group stage proper or the qualifying competition can be found in the table below.