When the Champions League anthem announces the new season of the elite Uefa competition from autumn, its beats will "resound" from stadiums that have not been heard for a long time or have never been heard before - even though they are clubs from the five strongest European leagues.
The new format of the first phase of the Champions League (something like the basketball Euroleague) will also "beautify" new faces - Aston Villa from the Premier League, Girona from La Liga, Bologna from Serie A, Stuttgart from the Bundesliga and probably Brest from League 1.
The success of the teams that until this season were mostly far from any talk of the Champions League did not come thanks to the expansion of the competition, but each of the five teams earned that right on the field - among clubs with much larger budgets, players, and even traditions. .
The best football is coming back to Birmingham
Aston Villa may have been a mid-table Premier League team in recent decades, but the Birmingham club is an English and European giant, former champions of the Old Continent.
"Lions" scored in 1982 Peter Witt at the famous "De Kuip" stadium in Rotterdam, they defeated Bayern Munich and won the Champions League, then the Champions Cup.
The best European football was played in Birmingham only one season after that and never again - until the emergence Unaja Emeri and his Aston Villas.
When you leave behind clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle without the Champions League, then it is more than clear that they deserve a place among the stars of the strongest club competition in the world.
Return of the Impregnable "Dal'Area"
Bologna waited much longer to return to the elite, exactly 60 years - the "rosoblu" was when the champion of Italy was eliminated already in the first round of the Champions Cup.
The club from Emilia-Romagna welcomed its return to European competitions after 22 years and the final of the former Intertoto Cup, which was a chance to enter the UEFA Cup.
Bologna may not have great European success, but it has a fact to respect when it comes to Uefa competitions, which is that no one has managed to win "Dal'Ara", the stadium of this club. So far, the "red and blue" have played 33 European matches on their home field - they have recorded 21 wins and 12 draws.
The "defense" of the football temple in Bologna will be much more difficult through the Champions League, but Thiago Motta and his boys like By Joshua Zirkze and others have shown this season how uncomfortable they are in their stadium and that anything is possible when it comes to Bologna.
"Shbave" in famous company
The only club in this story that has already played in the reformed Champions League is Stuttgart - in 2007, the "Squabs" Maria Gomes were champions of Germany, and the last time they were in UEFA's elite three years later.
After that, difficult days followed for the club from the city of Mercedes, last season they were almost relegated to Zvejte, and they will play in the Champions League next season...
And it won't be easy for anyone against a great team of a great young coach Sebastian Hennes.
Girona and Brest for the first time in Europe
What a story coming from Catalonia - next season, Girona will play in European competitions for the first time in history, and immediately the Champions League.
A small club that is part of the powerful "City Football Group" has reached the elite in the company of giants Real, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.
European football is coming to Brest for the first time - whether it will be the Champions League right away could be clearer after the last round of League 1 on Sunday, when the team from the Atlantic Ocean visits Toulouse and hopes to upset third-placed Lille against Nice.
If the team Erika Roe remains in fourth place during the summer, qualification for the Champions League awaits.
The "outsiders" from the "League of Five" have opened the gates of paradise and will be part of the biggest European stories next season, fully deserved.
New LŠ format: 22 teams out of 36 are known
Apart from Aston Villa, Bologna, Stuttgart and Girona, another 18 teams have already secured a place in the Champions League for next season.
From autumn, there will be 36 teams in the UEFA elite, and among those who do not have to worry about placement are Barcelona, Bayer, Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, Feyenoord, Inter, Juventus, Leipzig, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Milan, Monaco, PSG, PSV, Real, Shakhtar and Sporting Lisbon.
The new system is played so that all 36 teams will form one unique league, and in the first phase, instead of six, the teams will play eight games each, and all with different teams (four at home, four away).
From the unified table, when the first stage ends, the top eight go directly to the round of 9, while the teams placed from 24th to 1th place will play a preliminary knockout round (16/XNUMX finals).
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