[MIJB#19]

2009/2010 UEFA Champions' League Prediction Competition
Here we go, again! AC Milan vs Real Madrid, Barcelona vs Inter and Bayern vs Juventus are just some of the matchups that'll we're going to see in the first six rounds of games.

Three stages
The prediction competition comes in three stages. You're free to join for each seperate stage, but you score more points if you enter in all three of them. What are the three stages?
* Group stage
* Round of sixteen
* Championship playoff tree

In the group matches phase you're asked to predict the final standings of all eight groups. Per group you can score a total of five points. Each team in the top two correctly predicted is worth two points. If you predict a team to finish in the top two, but the end up in the other spot, you receive one point. The fifth point can be scored by correctly predicting the third ranked team. Your fourth place finishing team isn't worth any points, but logically it means you'll have at least one point by correctly predicting a top two team. That gives a 40-point maximum for this stage.

In the round of sixteen you can score two point per matchup. It's quite simple: the sixteen remaining teams are paired to eight sets. For every pair you predict the winner and a correct prediction is worth two points. That gives a 16-point maximum.

In the championship playoff tree stage you'll be making predictions for which four teams will make the semi finals, which teams will make the final and, finally, which team wins the 2008/2009 UEFA Champions' League. The scoring system is a little bit more complicated, but usually it comes down to predicting the final two teams correctly. In total you can score 50 points in this stage.

Entry is free, there's no prize money involved or what so ever, it's purely for the honor and competition. Current defending champion is SirFozzie. TredWel and dacman finished second and third last season. TazFTW win the 2007/2008 edition. Other past winners are condors (2006/2007), atatange1 (2005/2006), moriarity (2004/2005) and BreizhManu (2002/2003 and 2003/2004).


Group stage predictions
Below are the eight groups of four. Simply post your predicted top three per group (four is okay, but three is sufficient), to enter the competition. No post editing allowed and keep in mind the deadline is kickoff time of the first group matches (scheduled to be Tuesday September 15th at 2:45 pm Eastern).

A - Bayern (GER) - Juventus (ITA) - Girondins Bordeaux (FRA) - Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
B - Manchester United (ENG) - CSKA Moskva (RUS) - Besiktas (TUR) - VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
C - AC Milan (ITA) - Real Madrid (ESP) - Olympique Marseille (FRA) - Zurich (SWI)
D - Chelsea (ENG) - Porto (POR) - Atletico Madrid (ESP) - APOEL (CYP)
E - Liverpool (ENG) - Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) - Fiorentina (ITA) - DVSC (HUN)
F - Barcelona (ESP) - Internazionale (ITA) - Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) - Rubin Kazan (RUS)
G - Sevilla (ESP) - Rangers (SCO) - VfB Stuttgart (GER) - Unirea (ROM)
H - Arsenal (ENG) - AZ (NED) - Olympiakos (GRE) - Standard (BEL)