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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
James Whaling

UEFA release definitive guide on how to pronounce players' names - and you've been getting a lot wrong

With the Champions League returning to our screens and stadiums across the continent on Tuesday, UEFA have released a handy guide to help us all with our pronunciations.

While some teams are very easy to pronounce (we're looking at you, Genk) others can prove more tricky.

Did you know, for example, the Atletico in Atletico Madrid is actually pronounced At-LAY-tee-co?

Or that Valencia should be correctly spoken with a 'B' sound at the start (Balen-see-a)?

Of course you didn't. And the club names are merely the tip of the iceberg.

JOO-WOW FAY-LISH (Getty Images)

European football's governing body have also gone to the effort of cherry-picking a few players from each of the 32 clubs represented whose names are notoriously difficult to get right.

One of At-LAY-tee-co's young stars, Joao Felix, seems to have a relatively straightforward name. That is until you find out it's actually pronounced Joo-wow Fay-lish. No, us neither.

There are also some surprises closer to home. Take Chelsea's Christian Police-sick, for example. Or Liverpool's Jer-dan Shat-cheery. You should be especially careful with that one.

Careful with this one (REUTERS)

The Swiss and his teammates will begin their defence of their sixth European crown on Tuesday night when they travel to Italy to face Napoli.

Chelsea host Valencia on the same evening, before Tottenham travel to Greece to take on Olympiakos on Wednesday and Manchester City host Shakhtar Donetsk (again).

See UEFA's full guide here.

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