Official Football Thread

national acrobat said:
if the Champions League was exactly what it professed to be.
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Then we'd miss some great clubs (and we get less concurrence) in the CL.
The advantage is that the EL will be stronger, and more exciting.
 
Nah, that's OK. Not the best match of the season, but I'm not too upset about a draw at St. James' Park. Newcastle were strong yesterday, still Man Utd created enough chances to score. A bit sharper finishing would have been nice. Drawing away against top half teams is OK anyway. And I prefer drawing this way, compared to how Arsenal did at the same stadium earlier this season  :D

I'll be far more upset if points are dropped against Everton on Saturday. There needs to be some payback after what the Toffees did in September  :devil2:
 
All the major leagues in Europe are not exciting anymore, when it comes to the no. 1 position. Spain, Italy, England, Germany, all these countries have a clear winner already.  <_<

In my country it's like this, with 3 matches to go:

1. PSV          31 19  8  4  65  76-30
2. FC Twente  31 19  8  4  65  58-30
3. Ajax          31 19  7  5  64  63-27
 
Forostar said:
All the major leagues in Europe are not exciting anymore, when it comes to the no. 1 position. Spain, Italy, England, Germany, all these countries have a clear winner already.  <_<

In my country it's like this, with 3 matches to go:

1. PSV           31 19  8  4  65  76-30
2. FC Twente  31 19  8  4  65  58-30
3. Ajax           31 19  7  5  64  63-27
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The Dutch run-in is the closest, no doubt about that, but how can you say the winner is clear in England? United are seven points clear of Arsenal and nine points clear of Chelsea, but those two both play tonight (I predict Arsenal to get a draw and Chelsea to win, leaving both six points behind). Considering United are still to play Arsenal away and Chelsea at home, I'm definitely not getting ready to celebrate anything yet. Chelsea have a fairly easy run-in as well, except for the trip to Old Trafford and a home encounter with Tottenham.
 
Of course, things could go wrong, but (definitely for the less die hard supporter) 7 points is just a too big difference to call the run for the no. 1 spot an exciting race.
 
Forostar said:
In my country it's like this, with 8 matches to go:
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01. Partizan 22 18 2 2 56-17 56
02. Red Star 22 18 2 2 38-10 56
03. Vojvodina 22 16 5 1 36-8 53

Btw. Forostar what's your favorite Dutch club?
 
Painful question. ;)

It's Feyenoord (from Rotterdam).

They are not doing well at all now. There's still a tiny chance that they can reach European Football via the pre-competitions (Intertoto-cup)

Here the rest of the table:

4. AZ                 31 16  8  7  56  48-36
5. ADO Den Haag  31 16  6  9  54  60-46
6. Roda JC          31 13 12  6  51  60-44
7. FC Groningen   31 15  5 11  50  58-49
8. FC Utrecht      31 11  8 12  41  45-45
9. Heracles Al.     31 11  7 13  40  58-55
10. Feyenoord     31 11  7 13  40  47-49
11. Heerenveen  31 10  9 12  39  57-50
12. NEC                 31  9 12 10  39  50-52
13. NAC Breda     31 11  5 15  37  41-53
14. Vitesse          31  9  8 14  35  38-51
15. Graafschap    31  8 11 12  35  29-49
16. Excelsior        31  8  5 18  29  37-60
17. VVV-Venlo     31  5  2 24  17  29-71
18. Willem II        31  2  6 23  12  35-92

That no. 8 spot, I believe that is the goal for many clubs, who are terribly close to each other! Quite exciting.

In your competition it's still close together as well. Who is your club?
 
*Checking it out*

The Netherlands have got 2 spots in the Champions League qualification for the 2011-2012 season, as their league was ranked 10th by May 2010. They also have three spots in the Europa League qualification, for number 3 and 4 in the league plus the cup winner.

Scroll down this side for an overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312_UEFA_Europa_League. The teams that are already qualified, are teams from leagues that start in the spring and end in the autumn (so for example the Norwegian entries are based on the 2010 season).

PS: Since Ajax and Twente are to face each other in the cup final, it's clear that the team who finish 5th in the league will also get a chance to play in Europe.
 
Forostar said:
It's Feyenoord (from Rotterdam).
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Good choice :ok: I felt sorry for them when PSV trashed them 10-0 :S I can't really choose my favorite Dutch club... I like PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord and AZ. I don't care about the rest :bigsmile:

Forostar said:
In your competition it's still close together as well. Who is your club?
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Red Star :rocker: I hate Partizan, but I could live if Vojvodina wins, because in the last 18 years (since splitting of Yugoslavia) only one season finished without Partizan or Red Star winning the title.
 
That would be interesting indeed! FC Twente is the new big club over here. Don't forget about them, they were the champions last season. :)

@EW: I'll do some research as well.

edit:
Ah, I already remember what's going on: in the last few seasons, in the Dutch competition we have some insane new rules (which come in handy now  :D ):

Check the Dutch Playoffs for European football:

... When the cup winner also qualifies for European football through the league, the number eight finishers will play in the Europa League play-offs and the number four finishers will not have to.
 
Ah, I see. So instead of giving the cup winner's spot directly to number 5, you let number 5-8 play for it ...well, it definitely makes the league run-in interesting for more teams.
 
It does, and now I am used to it as well. It makes for an exciting post-competition. The same goes for the clubs at the bottom of the list, who do this as well with the top clubs from the 2nd division (only the last club goes down immediately, and the winner of the 2nd division goes up immediately). But:

A. It is a bit weird because you could say that the club who reached no. 5 deserves the spot more than the no. 8. (though in other sports we see this happening as well, e.g. NBA(?)

B. Coaches complained that their players have to play more and have less time to recover.
 
For two seasons, we had a similar system for promotion and relegation between the top two divisions (I'll refer to them as TL and D1):

The TL has got 16 teams.  Number 15 and 16 were relegated directly. Number 14 had to go through play-off to secure their place.

The D1 has got 16 teams as well - number 1 and 2 were promoted directly whereas number 3-5 joined in with TL14 in the play-off. The play-off was played as follows:

1: 14(TL) - 5(D1), one single match
2: 3(D1) - 4(D1), one single match

Then a two-legged final, following ordinary "European-style" rules, with away goals counting, 2*15 minutes of extra time in the return leg if still equal, and penalty shootout if no goals scored during extra time.

3: Winner 2 - Winner 1
4. Winner 1 - Winner 2

However, the play-off was abandoned after only two seasons, now there's only direct relegation/promotion (two down, two up).


My club, Fredrikstad, went down through playoff in 2009, and up through playoff in 2010. Now I really hope we're up to stay. We've had a good start to the season, winning three out of four, including a convincing 2-0 win against reigning champions Rosenborg last Monday.
 
I read there's just one Norwegian club which avoided relegation (the stuff in blue is interesting!):

Norway:
1.Lillestrøm Sportsklubb have not been relegated since 1967. They are the club with the most consecutive seasons in the Norwegian top division (since 1975).

The Netherlands:
1.Ajax
2.Feyenoord
3.PSV
4.FC Utrecht
Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV have been members of the Eredivisie since its formation in 1956. FC Utrecht was founded in 1970 as a merger of three clubs, of which DOS was also a charter member of the Eredivisie that had never been relegated.

Scotland:
1.Aberdeen
2.Celtic
3.Rangers
Celtic and Rangers were among the clubs that founded the original Scottish Football League in 1890; Aberdeen was promoted to the top flight in 1905, only one season after joining SFL's Division 2, and have finished bottom place on two occasions, 1917 (surviving a vote!!) and 2000 (reprieved from relegation due to Falkirk failing to meet Scottish Premier League stadium criteria).

England:
1.Blyth Spartans, formed in 1899, have never been relegated.
Since the 1992 formation of the Premier League as the new top division in England, the following have never been relegated from the Premier League:

1.Arsenal F.C., in top division continuously since 1919 (see above).
2.Everton F.C., the next longest-serving top-flight members (1954)
3.Liverpool F.C.
4.Manchester United F.C.
5.Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
6.Aston Villa F.C.
7.Chelsea F.C.
Of these, only Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have won the Premier League. Blackburn Rovers F.C. are the only other team to have won the Premier League (in 1994-95); however, they were relegated in 1998-99.
 
I find the separation between the Premier League and the old Division One very artificial when it comes to statistics. I cringe every time people talk about a "premier league record", knowing that some player achieved the same in the 70s or 80s.

As for Lillestrøm "avoiding relegation" - the facts are correct, but if they were relegated in 1967, they have hardly avoided relegation, have they?  ;)
 
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