Atletico the danger draw as English qualifiers' seek comfort of the group stages

Manchester United will be celebrating last night's European Cup victory for some days, but the rest of Europe's leading clubs will already be looking to next season's competition.

Tonight's denouement of the Scottish Premier League will complete the line-up of automatic qualifiers for the group stage – Scotland's champions having been promoted into the elite 16 because Mancheser United have already qualified for the group stage – and the Premier League representatives look well placed already.

Such has been the success of English clubs in recent years, all four will be top seeds in the group stage, if they reach it. Arsenal and Liverpool must first negotiate a potentially tricky qualifying round.

The biggest danger are Atletico Madrid. Having not been regulars in Europe in recent years, Atletico have a low Uefa co-efficient. This means if the higher-ranked teams Panathinaikos, Basel, Fenerbahçe, Anderlecht and the SPL runners-up emerge from the second qualifying round, Atletico will not be seeded.

Should the English pair qualify, there will be a 50 per cent chance of a Premier League club facing shock qualifiers CFR 1907 Cluj. The Transylvanian club were Romanian champions, six years after playing in the Third Division. They hail from the city of Cluj-Napoca, a fast- growing information technology hub best known as the hometown of the Cheeky Girls. Their ground holds just 12,500, but is to be doubled in size over the summer, and the team has a significant foreign contingent, mainly Argentines, Portuguese and Swedes.

Bordeaux and Uefa Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg will also be making their Champions League debut, as could Vitoria Guimaraes (Portugal), Standard Liege (Belgium) and Twente Enschede (Netherlands).

Twente qualified in a play-off at the expense of Ajax, who will have to settle for the Uefa Cup. Unexpected early favourites for that competition are Milan after last year's Champions League winners could only finish fifth in Serie A.

Everton and Tottenham will be seeded in the Uefa Cup first round (which leads to the group stage), as will, probably, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Manchester City

Villa, if they come through the Intertoto Cup, enter at the second qualifying round, the same as Motherwell. Queen Of The South, who qualify because Rangers, their opponents in Saturday's Scottish Cup final, are already in the Champions League qualifiers, enter at the first round.

Next season there will be a difference for Premier League clubs between coming third and fourth. In an attempt to broaden the geographical spread, and financial impact, of the Champions League there will be a two-track qualifying system.

The top three clubs from the leading countries (England and probably Spain and Italy) will be among 22 qualifying automatically for the Champions League. The other 10 clubs will be drawn from two campaigns, five from each. One will only feature clubs from outside the 24 ranked countries.

The other route will include the Premier League fourth club, who will go into a two-round seeded qualifying competition limited to a club from each of the top 15 nations. This means the fourth club in the Premier League could play the runner-up from Scotland or the Netherlands or the fourth-placed team in Spain or Italy.

Stages to qualification for Champions League 2008-09

GROUP STAGE AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS (Will be seeded in four pots of eight based on Uefa ranking. 16 September – 10 December)

Chelsea (1 - Uefa ranking), Manchester United (6), Lyons (8), Internazionale (9), Real Madrid (10), Bayern Munich (11), PSV Eindhoven (12), Villarreal (13), Roma (16), Porto (17), Werder Bremen (19), Sporting Lisbon (21), Rangers (24) or Celtic (41), Zenit St Petersburg (27), Bordeaux (38), CFR 1907 Cluj (146) + 16 winners from 3rd qualifying round.

3rd QUALIFYING ROUND (Highest 16 clubs, including 2nd round winners, are seeded. Winners go through to group stage. 12–13 & 26–27 August)

Liverpool (2), Barcelona (4), Arsenal (5), Schalke 04 (22), Juventus (23), Marseilles (25), Steaua B'rest (29), Olympiakos (44), Shaktar Donetsk (46), Fiorentina (59), Spartak Moscow (61), Atletico Madrid (67), Slavia Prague (84), Galatasaray (87), CSKA Sofia (110), Vit. Guimaraes (119), St. Liege (140), Twente Enschede (142) + 14 qualifiers

2nd QUALIFYING ROUND (29–30 July & 5–6 August)

14 teams including SPL runners-up, Panathinaikos (37), Basel (42), Fenerbahçe (45), Anderlecht (56), Sparta Prague (68), Dynamo Kiev (74) + 14 qualifiers.

1st QUALIFYING ROUND (15–16 & 22–23 July)

28 teams including Drogheda United (Rep Ireland), Linfield (Northern Ireland), Llanelli (Wales).

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