It is coming down to the wire for teams which want to cash in big on the Champions League bonuses by qualifying to the main round of the Champions League competition. Many teams depend on these bonuses to keep afloat, and cannot afford to not be in the competition. The third and last qualifying round starts tomorrow and Wednesday, with second leg matches being played two weeks later.

There are some major European teams in this third leg which would like to be in the competition. Arsenal who had to leave the competition last year already in the first knockout round; knocked out by PSV Eidhoven; plays on Wednesday against Sparta Prague who did not qualify for the main competition last year. Arsenal are clear favorites beating Sparta in the 2005-2006 year 2:0 away and 3:1 at home. Arsenal however lost its biggest star over the summer (Henry who transfered to Barcelona), and its new striker Adebayor, is only recovering from an injury and might not be ready for Wednesday’s match with starts 20:15 SELC. This will be a very interesting match, as Sparta has nothing to loose and Arsenal would like to make it as far in the competition as posible in order to raise the monetary value of the team. In the last few days Formula 1 czar Bernie Ecclestone officialy announced interest in purchasing Arsenal. Arsenal’s board of directors, however signed a memorandum to not sell the team for at least a year.

Another team which cannot afford to not be in the competition this year is Ajax Amsterdam. The Champions League regular, did not even qualify for the main competition last year, loosing 3:2 aggragate against Kobenhavn, a suprise upset. Ajax which lost Wesley Sneijder to Real Madrid over the summer will face Slavia Prague. Slavia Prague had to qualify for the third round, beating SK Zilina in the second round on penalties 4:3. Slavia Prague has not qualified for the main competition in over 5 years, but are hoping to break their string of bad luck. Slavia strengtened their squad over the summer with an addition of homecoming of Vladimir Smicer, a Czech Republic squad regular who played in Liverpool (with whom he won the Champions League in 2005-2006) and then in RC Lens before returning to Slavia Prague. He will however not be able to play in the first match, due to yellow cards. This match is also played on Wednesday. Slavia Prague has an advantage over Ajax of already playing four matches (two in Czech Gambrinus Liga and two in Champions League second qualifying round). Ajax has recently lost 1:0 to Arsenal in a friendly match.