• It is exclusively available through Setanta in the UK so fingers crossed!

Liverpool Football Club have announced that their new dedicated satellite channel will launch on September 20th at 6pm.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/tv/lfctv_subscribe.htm

20 Handy Facts About Toulouse

The French side bar the way to Liverpool’s participation in th Champions League group stages. Though not underestimating the task, the Reds should get past this hurdle. Although the afternoon temperature in Toulouse is often 35 degrees (thanks to Paul Grech for that) the temperature in Liverpool this summer is unlikely to rise much above ‘cold’.

1. This is Toulouse’s first appearance in the Champions League. They are here by finishing third in the French Championship

2. Toulouse have very little European experience full stop. Just two qualifications for the UEFA Cup and the last of these way back in 1987-88.

3. The club qualified in dramatic fashion on the final day of last season. They won their match and other teams lost- plus, Lille managed a last minute equaliser at Rennes. All these results put them into third.

4. Swedish striker Johan Elmander is probably the club’s best known current player. He has 27 caps and 11 international goals. He scored a hat-trick in the final League game that lifted Toulouse into 3rd place.

5. Fellow Swede Jon Jonsson is a new arrival who was voted best defender in the Swedish League last season.

6 .Paulo Cesar and Fabinho are experienced Brazilians, Cesar is a full back and Fabinho a holding midfielder, who has 6 fingers on one hand.

7. Toulouse are sometimes called the Violets after the ‘City of Violets’ but fans usually call them ‘le Tef’, a contraction of TFC.

8 The club have twice been League Two champions and won the French Cup once in 1957.

9. Manager Elie Baup has led Bordeaux to the French title in 1999 and also been in charge at St Etienne.

10. Central midfielder Laurent Battles is a product of the youth system. He first played for the club from 1994-1999 and returned in 2005. In between he was at Bastia, Bordeaux and Marseille.

11. Toulouse managed to defeat French champions Lyon 1-0 on the Saturday before the first leg – Elmander got the goal.

12. Only 8 years ago Toulouse were still down in the third tier of French Football.

13.The city in the Pyrenees is actually far better known for the exploits of its rugby union team who have been European champions.

14, Toulouse have a compact 35,700 capacity stadium and the first leg was a sell out. It hosted games in the 1998 World Cup.

15. Toulouse achieved their third place in the French League despite losing a massive 14 games. They won 17 but only drew 7, compared to nearest challengers Rennes who drew 14 times.

16. The third place was a shock- their three finishes before 2006/07 were 16th, 13th and 16th.

17. This Toulouse FC has only been in existence since 1970. A previous club of that name was founded in 1937 but disappeared in a merger with Red Star Olympique in 1967.

18. Famous players of the past include Fabien Barthez, Dominique Rocheteau and Rob Rensenbrink

19. Forward Bryan Bergougnoux is French under-21 international and was signed from France’s current top club, Lyon.

20. The club have the unusual colours of purple and white and their change strip is pink after the city’s other nickname the ‘Pink City’.