From February 7 until March 9, the rugby world will again focus on the annual 6 Nations Championship Tournament in which England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and France will battle it out for the tournament win. Wales won the 2008 “Six Nations” with a Grand Slam. Before that France won in 2006 and 2007. This years favourite to win it is again Wales with odds around 9/4 (3.25), followed by France around 3/1 (4.00), Ireland 7/2 (4.50) and England around 4/1 (5.00).

Scotland and Italy are heavy underdogs with Scotland around 15/1 (16.00) and Italy coming in with odds above 100/1. That is no wonder, Scotland`s last win of the 6 Nations dates back to 1999, the last year before Italy joined the what was then the “5 Nations Championship”. Italy itself managed to win only a total of 6 games so far in 45 matches, last year was the first tournament with 2 wins for the Italian side.

Best bookmakers to bet on the 6 Nations Rugby Championship Tournament:

RBS Six Nations Fixtures:

Sat 7th February: England vs. Italy and Ireland vs. France
Sun 8th February: Scotland vs. Wales
Sat 14th February: France vs. Scotland and Wales vs. England
Sun 15th February: Italy vs. Ireland
Fri 27th February: France vs. Wales
Sat 28th February: Scotland vs. Italy and Ireland vs. England
Sat 14th March: Italy vs. Wales and Scotland vs. Ireland
Sun 15th March: England vs. France
Sat 21st March: Italy vs. France, England vs. Scotland and Wales vs. Ireland

Today in Nyon, Switzerland the first knockout round in this years Champions League was drawn and as always, there are some really classic football clashes coming up in the round of the last 16 survivors. For example, ALL three Italian teams have been drawn against english sides ! Chelsea will take on Juventus Turin, it`s AS Rome against Arsenal London and finally there`s a real heavyweight fight between Inter Milan and reigning champion Manchester United !

FC Liverpool as the fourth English team also has quite a challenge coming up with opponent Real Madrid from Spain. Also Villareal will take on the Greeks of Panathinaikos Athens, Sporting Lisbon and Bayern Munich will battle it out, it`s Spain against neighbor Portugal in the match Atlético Madrid against FC Porto and Olympique Lyon from France will go for a stunning upset against FC Barcelona.

All the matchups in the round of the last 16:

Chelsea FC (England) against Juventus (Italy)
Villarreal CF (Spain) vs Panathinaikos FC (Greece)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain) vs FC Porto (Portugal)
Olympique Lyonnais (France) vs FC Barcelona (Spain)
Real Madrid CF (Spain) vs Liverpool FC (England)
Arsenal FC (England) against AS Roma (Italy)
FC Internazionale Milano (Italy) vs Manchester United FC (England)

The games will be played on February 24/25 and March 10/11. The 8 group winners will have the little advantage to host the second game at home.

Ladbrokes as one of the leading UK football bookmakers currently favors FC Barcelona to win it all at 7/2, Chelsea and ManU are tied at second with 5/1, Inter Milan is 8/1, while FC Liverpool is offered at 10/1. Here are all the odds on winning the Champions League in 2009: