Interesting groups with difficult tasks for some of the favourites, yet also what looks to be fairly easy groups for others, that is the result of the champions league group stage draw. Current title holders Inter face Werder Bremen, Tottenham and Twente in Group A, which should see heavy fighting for the top two spots. Barcelona as the top contender for the title should have no problems to advance from Group D against Panathinaikos, Kopenhagen and Rubin Kazan.

Things could become really interesting in Group E, which includes favourite #2 Real Madrid, AC Milan, Ajax Amsterdam and AJ Auxerre from France. This years runner-up Bayern Munich is favoured to take down Group E against AS Rome, Basel (Switzerland) and Romanian champions CFR Cluj.

Group B should be very difficult to call, as it includes Olympique Lyonnais, Benfica Lisbon, FC Schalke 04 and Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Manchester United clashes with Glasgow Rangers in Group C, which also includes FC Valencia and Turkish champion Bursaspor.

An interesting Group F was drawn for Chelsea with French champions Olympique de Marseille, FC Spartak Moscow and first-timer and big underdog MŠK Žilina from Slovakia. Last, but not least, it`s Arsenal in Group H against Shaktar Donetzk, Portugals SC Braga and Partizan Belgrade.

Odds on the first group stage fixtures on September 14 and 15 are already available from your favourite online football bookmakers like Bet365, Ladbrokes, William Hill or SportingBet. Longterm odds on the next Champions League winner are also already active.

The World-Cup qualification phase is behind us and all the usual suspects capable of winning this mega event, made it to South Africa. Also, all the former World Champions will compete; Uruguay held off a scare from Costa Rica and France eliminated a very unfortunate Irish team due to an incredible hand play by Thierry Henry.

The international football bookmakers rank reigning European Champ Spain together with 5-time winner Brazil as the top of the list with odds around 5.50 (9/2). These two are followed by England (7.50 or 13/2), Argentina (10.00 or 9/1) and Germany at 13.00 (12/1).

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The football bookmakers would currently pay out 14.00 (13/1) for the Netherlands and an always very dangerous Italy. The Top 10 list is completed by France and Portugal with odds around 17.00 (16/1) and the Ivory Coast at 25.00 (24/1).

Behind these 10 top contenders, matters quickly become kind of improbable. While Chile, Serbia, Ghana and Paraguay with sportsbetting odds of around 40.00-60.00 (39/1 – 59/1) might have a very slim chance to win this event, behind these four, there are no less than nine more teams coming it at odds of around 100-to-1, these are: USA, Cameroon, Denmark, Mexico, Nigeria, Australia, Greece, Uruguay and host nation South Africa.

Anyone of these teams winning the FIFA Football World-Cup 2010 would certainly be a major sensation by itself, but if any of “the rest” actually wins it all, then that would rank as one of the most stunning “Cinderella”-victories in sports history for all time. Here the “candidates”:

Switzerland: around 150-to-1
Japan and Slovenia: up to 250-to-1
South Korea, Slovakia and Algeria: 300-to-1
New Zealand, Honduras and North Korea: up to 2000-to-1 (!!)

The FIFA World Cup Final Draw will be held on December 4 in Cape Town (19.00 local time/18.00 CET). Once the draw is complete, some teams winning odds might either go up or down, of course, depending on the group opponents. Especially at World-Cups in the past, there were rather “easy-breezy” groups for the favourites, but also groups containing 4 really strong contenders.

The biggest (one-day) sporting event of the world is coming up this Sunday, when the NFL Superbowl will be played in Miami, Florida. The Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints were the dominating teams all season and so they meet to decide who will become the Super Bowl Champion 2010.

The current Superbowl odds favour the Indianapolis Colts to win and to do so with heavy scoring by both teams. The best odds on the Colts are offered by Ladbrokes, Bet365 or Victor Chandler at around 1.50 (1/2 UK-odds), while a win by the Saints would bring about 2.80 (9/5 UK-odds).

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Almost all American Football Bookmakers offer only 2-way wagers, that means you cannot bet on a draw, even if you wanted to. So betting on the coming Superbowl Champion means just that: “Who will win ?” Should there be no winner after the regular 4 quarters, the game will be decided by “Sudden Death”, meaning the next points scored will decide the outcome, wether it may be by Touchdown, Fieldgoal or even Safety.

Betting on the “Over or Under” (total points):

It is widely expected, that the 44th Superbowl will become a “Shootout” by two teams, that both rely heavily on their respective offensive lines. Most bookies like 888.com Sports, Betfair or William Hill offer the “under or over”-bet at 56.5 points, so 56 points (or less) for the “under”-wager, 57 points (or more) for the “over”-sportsbet.

The final Champions League clash is getting nearer and nearer. On May 27, Manchester United will try to achieve what hasn`t been done so far in the “new” Champions League era, that is to defend the title. 3 teams have so far reached the final 1 year after winning the Champions League, but so far all three have lost (*).

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Currently, there is no real betting favorite in this matchup as Manchester and Barcelona are offered around 13/8 odds on the win in regulation. A draw after 90 minutes stands at about 11/5 at the moment. Here are the current odds on Barcelona vs. ManU from select bookmakers:

BET365: UK odds: 13/8 – 23/10 – 13/8 ___ decimal: 2.63 – 3.30 – 2.63
LADBROKES: UK odds: 11/8 – 11/5 – 8/5 ___ decimal: 2.38 – 3.20 – 2.60
UNIBET: UK odds: 17/10 – 11/5 – 17/10 ___ decimal:2.70 – 3.20 -2.70

Manchester United and FC Barcelona have had nine official matches so far, with three wins for ManU, two for Barça and four draws. Here are the results from those previous encounters:

1984 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarterfinal:
Barcelona – Manchester United 2:0
Manchester United – Barcelona 3:0 –> United won 3-2 on aggregate

1991 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final:
Barcelona – Manchester United 1:2

1995 Champions League group stage:
Manchester United – Barcelona 2:2
Barcelona – Manchester United 4:0 –> Barcelona advanced, ManU was out

1999 UEFA Champions League group stage:
Manchester United – Barcelona 3:3
Barcelona – Manchester United 3:3 –> ManU advanced, Barcelona was eliminated

2008 Champions League semifinal:
Barcelona – Manchester United 0:0
Manchester United – Barcelona 1:0 –> United won 1-0 on aggregate

(*)
AC Milan won in 1994 (4:0 against Barcelona), lost in 1995 (0:1 against Ajax Amsterdam)
Ajax Amsterdam won in 1995 (1:0 over Milan), lost in 1996 (2:4 against Juventus – penalty shootout)
Juventus won in 1996 (4:2 over Ajax), but lost in 1997 to Borussia Dortmund with 1:3

This coming Wednesday and Thursday, the UEFA-Cup will be in every football fans and bookmakers spotlight, not only in the UK. 3 sides from England are still in the tournament with Manchester City, high-flying Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

First up will be Aston Villa on Wednesday at 7pm UK-time, when they will take on CSKA Moscow from Russia at Villa Park in Birmingham. On Thursday then, Tottenham Hotspur will have to travel to Shaktar Donetsk and Manchester City will have to face Denmark`s København away in the first-leg.

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Aston Villa against CSKA Moscow:

Highest odds for an Aston Villa win at Unibet with 21/20 (UK) – 2.05 (decimal) – +105 (US odds)
The bookmaker “10Bet” offers the best odds for a draw: 23/10 – 3.33 – +233
The highest sportsbetting odds on a win for Moscow: Sportingbet UK – 3/1 – 4.00 – +300

Shaktar Donetsk against Tottenham Hotspur:

One of the highest bookie odds on a Tottenham victory over Donetzk is offered by “BetInternet” at 9/4 – 3.25 – +225, while a draw should be played with Bet365 at 23/10 – 3.30 – +230. The home win for Shaktar is best bet at PaddyPower (5/4 – 2.25 – +125).

FC Kopenhagen against Manchester City:

Kopenhagen to win against ManCity: 2/1 – 3.00 – +200 at Bet365 Sportsbetting
Any draw between the two teams: 9/4 – 3.25 – +225 at Victor Chandler`s VCBet
Manchester City odds to win the away game: 7/5 – 2.40 – +140 at Expekt International

What are the bookmakers football odds on any of the english teams to win the UEFA-Cup 2009, you ask ? Well, Aston Villa and Manchester City come in as second favourites behind AC Milan (4/1) at around 10/1, while Tottenham is currently offered around 12/1.

Complete UEFA-Cup schedule for Wednesday & Thursday:

Dynamo Kiev vs. FC Valencia
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Stuttgart
Olympiakos vs. AS Saint Etienne
Aalborg vs. Deportivo La Coruna
Aston Villa vs. CSKA Moscow
Werder Bremen vs. AC Milan
Bordeaux vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
NEC Nijmegen vs. Hamburg
Paris SG vs. Wolfsburg
Sampdoria vs. FC Metalist Kharkiv
Braga vs. Standard Liege
Lech Poznan vs. Udinese
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Tottenham Hotspur
FC Copenhagen vs. Manchester City
Fiorentina vs. Ajax Amsterdam
Marseille vs. FC Twente Enschede

Should Manchester City advance against Copenhagen, they will face either Aalborg BK from Denmark or RC Deportivo La Coruña of Spain. Tottenham would have to play against either Aston Villa FC or PFC CSKA Moskva in the round of the last 16, while Aston Villa will therefore face the winner of the FC Shakhtar Donetsk – Tottenham Hotspur FC game.