This year’s Champions League will have an unfamiliar ring to it. Belarus (BATE Borisov) and Cyprus (Anorthosis Famagusta) send representatives for the first time, while little-known CFR Cluj, of Romania, will also be making their debut. Indeed, 17 nations are represented in the group phase of this season’s competition, a record number for this format, and we had better get used to it.

Next season the revamp proposed by Michel Platini, the Uefa president, comes into effect, making it more likely that clubs from second and third-tier nations gain access to the Champions League proper. Put simply, it guarantees that the champions from leagues ranked between 16 (Denmark) and 53 (San Marino) will be guaranteed five slots in the competition’s group phase.

The move was viewed as a way of making the Champions League less of a closed shop, giving others a chance at least to take part, albeit in an Eddie the Eagle sort of way. In fact, this year’s newcomers show that perhaps the gap between the haves and have-nots is not as big as thought. Or, more accurately, while the gap between the eight or nine clubs at the top and the second tier may remain huge, the distance between the next two levels has narrowed.

Take Famagusta, who form a remarkable story. For a start, they have been exiles for more than 30 years. In 1974, Famagusta fell under Turkish control as Cyprus was partitioned, so the club packed up and moved to Larnaca, on the Greek end of the island. They draw crowds that are lower than some Coca-Cola League Two clubs in England, yet they are rubbing shoulders with the elite of European football.

Their top scorer, Lukasz Sosin, is a thirty-something Pole who emigrated to Cyprus in 2002 and has not looked back. They do have two names who may be recognisable, though: Temuri Ketsbaia, the Georgian, is a former Newcastle United striker and now manages the club, and Savio, the former Brazil player, who, at 34, chose the Cypriot league for his swansong. Ketsbaia should be remembered for kicking an advertising hoarding at St James’ Park when celebrating a goal.

Or how about BATE? If they were in the English football pyramid, their average gate of 3,619 would have made them the 83rd-best supported club in the nation, just after Darlington and before Hereford United. And if you think that BATE are simply the plaything of some oligarch pumping oil money into the club to bring in boatloads of Brazilians and Africans, think again: the team are largely made up of domestic players, although they do have five foreigners, the most exotic being a Bulgarian, while the other four are Russians. None has an international cap.

Cluj are the flispide of BATE. They have 22 foreign players on their books, hailing from four continents, although in terms of size they are essentially a provincial club with average gates of 9,000 and achieved promotion to the top flight only five years ago. Last season, they became only the second club from outside Bucharest in the past 27 years to win the Romanian league. Some may bristle at the reliance on imported talent, but it is simply a case of footballing globalisation. In that, they are Chelsea or Inter Milan writ small.

Tiny and unknown though they may be, these three clubs represent a success for those who believe in an egalitarian, merit-based Uefa. They come from the fringes of Europe’s power structure (Romania is not on the fringes, but Cluj, in Transylvania, is), they are minnows in every sense, yet each found their path into the big time, knocking out clubs such as Olympiacos, Anderlecht, Rapid Vienna and Levski Sofia along the way.

So that’s one-up for the little guys.

And another thing...

How long will Mourinho enjoy his humble pie?

So much for those who thought that José Mourinho’s Inter Milan were going to walk Serie A. In the season opener on Saturday evening they were held to a 1-1 draw by Sampdoria. Mourinho employed his familiar 4-3-3 and was gracious at the end, giving credit to his opponents (although, typically, pointing out that they had “changed the way they usually play to stop us”).

Indeed, it is the second straight week of the newer, humbler Mourinho. Nine days ago, after Inter won the Italian Super Cup on penalties against AS Roma, he had high praise for his predecessor, Roberto Mancini. “Mancini got us into this game by winning the league last year,” Mourinho said. “I just ran the final leg.”

Do not expect him to say the same if Inter win the Champions League.

Don’t mock the Super Cup

For whatever reason, many in England do not seem to like the Uefa Super Cup. One newspaper called it an absurdity, another expressed surprise that Manchester United fielded a full-strength side against Zenit St Petersburg in Monaco on Friday, which was rather silly, given that United’s next competitive match was not for another two weeks. It is not as if Sir Alex Ferguson needs to rest players.

This is a legitimate European trophy. And those who say that it is not, because all you need to do is play one game, are misguided. You do not need only the one victory, you need to win the Uefa Cup or the Champions League first.