Live updates of the Hamburg v. Bayern Munich match in the Bundes Liga begin at about 2:30 p.m. New York time. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw on Aug. 15 in the opening match of the season.
Bayern is tied with Hoffenheim on 35 points for first place in the league table, but Hoffenheim holds a 3-goal lead in goal differential. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool goes into the game three points behind leaders Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League table. Robbie Keane, struggling to find a game with the Reds, is once again on the bench.
Wigan sits in 7th place, but are now playing with a different squad after the sale of striker Emile Heskey to Aston Villa and the anticipated sale of midfielder Wilson Palacios to Tottenham. Click to continue reading...

Olympique Lyonnais will carry the torch for France in the knockout round of the Champions League. Bordeaux and Marseille also were in the group stage, but both clubs finished third and will be in knockout round of the UEFA Cup.
Lyon - which has never advanced past the quarterfinals of the Champions League - took second in their group with a +4 goal differential behind Bayern Munich. Click to continue reading...

Some big stories coming out of England in the last few days. First, Kaka is staying at Milan after Milan rejected a 91-million pound offer. Tough to get exactly what happened, but that's the more likely story as opposed to Milan wanting the move and Kaka himself rejecting it. It's also possible that Robinho has reacted badly towards the news, but he says his walkout is just to take care of family matters in Brazil. Click to continue reading...

Buducnost suffered a tough loss in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, the second straight heart-breaking defeat in European competition for the Varvari (Buducnost's fans). Buducnost qualified for Europe for the first time with a second place finish in the Montenegrin First League in 2006/2007. Click to continue reading...

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took over Manchester City on transfer deadline day this season and he and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak wasted no time in making an impact.
The club landed disgruntled Robinho for 32.5 million pounds from Rea Madrid, swooping in at the last minute to take him away from Chelsea. Click to continue reading...

The Pilots as they are known are a relatively new team as the club was just founded in 1996. Olimpik Baku earned its first UEFA Cup spot last year, and came very close to winning its first tie.
Vojvodina Novi Sa of Serbia knocked the Pilots out in the first qualifying round by a 2-1 aggregate score. Click to continue reading...

Valletta, last year's champions of the Maltese Premier League, are making another run at the title this season. The 19-time champions sit two points behind Hibernians at the top of the league.
Valletta lost 3-0 aggregate in its Champions League first qualifiying round tie against Artmedia Petrzalka of Slovakia. Click to continue reading...

We've found our new last place team. When I reshuffle my rankings toward the end of the season in May, this side we'll have to be at the bottom, despite Estonia being some 12 spots away from the bottom as a league. Why? Well, it's not because of their 8-0 aggregate loss to Nordsjaelland (Denmark) in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. Click to continue reading...

Banants could miss out on Europe for the first time since the 2002-'03 season unless it wins the Armenian cup, which runs from March-May.
That's because the club finished fifth in the 2008 Armenian Premier League, which runs from April to November. Banants had a +9 goal differential, but still finished six points out of third place and European qualification. Click to continue reading...

Three teams have gone at least eight points clear of the competition in the Welsh Premier League, including The New Saints. TNS and Llanelli AFC both sit on 41 points, three behind leaders Rhyl, with Llanelli holding the advantage because of more goals scored. Llanelli also has two games in hand on TNS. Click to continue reading...

If you're wondering, "Who?", you're not alone. Inter and Jose Mourinho might be thinking the same thing after Wednesday's Copa Italia tie, which Inter finally won 3-1 in extra time. Scarpi, Genoa's seldom used Italian keeper, denied the likes of Adriano, Hernan Cruz and late sub Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Adriano finally solved Scarpi, who earlier saved an Adriano penalty, with a header in the final 20 minutes. Click to continue reading...

Voters were divided on whether Aston Villa will finish in the top four, with four votes going in each direction. A week later, and things look a little better for Villa and the results might be different were we to do it again.
While Arsenal were the main team that Villa figured to finish ahead of in the standings, Chelsea might be the new target following a 3-0 thrashing at Old Trafford. Click to continue reading...

A look at some scores that could have an impact on future rankings:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester United 3-0 Chelsea
Two goals from set pieces ruined the Blues, who nevery really threatened. Man U now sits just a point behind Chelsea for second with two games in hand, one of which comes on Wednesday. Click to continue reading...

FC Porto, twice the champions of Europe, had one of the more impressive 3-match runs during the group stage of the Champions League.
Porto suffered back-to-back losses to Arsenal (4-0 at the Emirates) and Dynamo Kyiv (1-0 at home) which left the 23-time Portuguese Liga champions with just three points from three matches. Click to continue reading...