UEFA Champions League Final - Bayern Munich Against Chelsea

Very few sporting events over the course of the year are watched worldwide. Certainly the Super Bowl, World Series and FIFA World Cup every four years are on that list. Arguably, the UEFA Champions League is right up there as well.

Whether it is at 11:45am in Vancouver Canada, 10:45pm in Moscow Russia or 3:45am on a Sunday morning in Sydney Australia, bundles of people will be glued to their TV at home or at a bar. The majority of them will be getting set to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

It has basically become the “European Super Bowl”. That is without the commercials the Super Bowl in February offers because of their advertisement opportunities. The UEFA Champions League is an annual soccer tournament between soccer teams all around Europe. Teams will qualify for the Champions League through their respected leagues the previous year. The 76-team tournament takes around eight months to find the UEFA Champions League winner. In fact, the winner has the honor in representing Europe in the FIFA Club World Cup.

This year they’re quite a few storylines that this years Final has. For the first time since 1984 the game will be played in one teams home field. Bayern Munich will enjoy that benefit today. The powerhouse club from Germany will try to thrive on under pressure. Surprisingly, in 1984 Roma was unable to do that when the game was held in Rome that year. Liverpool edged Roma out in Penalty Kicks. Bayern Munich is coming off an upset win over Real Madrid and will look to do something that Roma couldn’t do.

Chelsea has some major pressure of their own. Chelsea is coming off a disappointing sixth place finish in the EPL standings. Therefore, if Chelsea wants to take part in the UEFA Champions League next year, winning todays game is a must. Chelsea failed to qualify for the Champions League next year as they had to place in the top four but were unable to do so. By winning the Champions League it would give them an automatic berth. Therefore, it would give them the potential to win back- to- back titles.

What will make this game so exciting is that even if you’re not the biggest soccer fan, everyone will have a preferred team they want to win. Personally, I hope Chelsea wins their first UEFA Champions League title. When I was little I thought it was really cool that there was a soccer team that had a girls name. Secondly, I grew up with my favorite color blue. In addition, in 2008 I felt sorry for Chelsea fans when they were beat by their bitter rival Manchester United in Penalty Kicks. Therefore, I hope Chelsea spoils Bayern’s big party in Munich tonight.

If I had to make a pick on this game I would have to go with Bayern Munich. Chelsea has significant players disqualified because of too many yellow cards in their historic win over Barcelona. I believe Chelsea will take a 1-0 lead into halftime however, Bayern Munich will score two second half goals to break Chelsea’s hearts yet again.

The game is not only being played in Bayern Munich’s home. It will also be the stadium that hosted six FIFA World Cup games when Germany hosted the event in 2006. Two of those games Germany were in, including the opening match between Costa Rica and the Round of 16 match between Sweden.

Here is a list of all the TV broadcasters for the game today, along with their country it will broadcast in.