Valencia and Lyon have been chosen as top seeds in the UEFA European Champions League after Italy's match-fixing scandal knocked Juventus and AC Milan out of the tournament. French champions Lyon are guaranteed a spot in the group stage for the upcoming competition, while Valencia, who finished third in their domestic league, will need to qualify at a preliminary round. With Juventus demoted to Serie B last week and AC Milan given a massive point reduction that will rule them out of the European competition, Roma and Chievo are set to join Inter Milan, who was also placed as a top seed, in the Champions League. Chievo and Roma's participation in the tournament is dependant on the verdict of the relegated clubs' appeals. If Juventus and AC Milan sentences are repealed, the smaller clubs will be dropped from the tournament in favor of the Italian giants.
Lyon have done very well in European competitions UEFA has given the Italian Football Federation until July 25th to confirm which sides will take part in European competition next season. Other top seeds include defending champions Barcelona and their local rivals Real Madrid, Premiership trio Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Like Valencia, top seeds Arsenal and Liverpool need to still qualify for their position in the group stage. Meanwhile, Premiership champions Chelsea and German local-double winners Bayern Munich were placed as second seeds. Other top teams that were placed as second seeds include former European champions Porto and Dutch giants Ajax.
