European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Winston Biscuit]

FC Thun playing right now. A win get them the Swiss title. They are a small club who've never been champions before and were only promoted up to the top division last season

[From Despair To Where?]

FC Thun playing right now. A win get them the Swiss title. They are a small club who've never been champions before and were only promoted up to the top division last season

They've spent 17 seasons in the top division since 2001.

They were runners up in 2005 and qualified for the group stages of the Champions League the following season.

[Sutekh]

FC Thun playing right now. A win get them the Swiss title. They are a small club who've never been champions before and were only promoted up to the top division last season

They've spent 17 seasons in the top division since 2001.

They were runners up in 2005 and qualified for the group stages of the Champions League the following season.

And Reading bought their best player in 2016

[South Coast Royal]

Probable title decider in Turkey this evening between the inevitable Galatasaray and Fenerbahce (the other top Istanbul side Besiktas aren't so good these days).

A deciding factor may be the decision of the referee as to whether star man Osimhen will be able to play with a casting of some sort on his arm-he is such a key player for Gala.

[Pepe the Horseman]

In the Dutch second division FC Den Bosch need to lose their final game of the season for a chance to make the playoffs.

Losing is their best option. Winning could actually end their season.

The second division season is split into periods, and winning a period earns a club a ticket to the promotion play-offs. ADO Den Haag have already secured a play-off spot through the system. If ADO finish in the top two of the current period as well, their spare ticket would trickle down through the overall league table to the highest-ranked team that doesn't already have a play-off place. That team is Den Bosch.

So if ADO do well in this final period, Den Bosch qualify through the back door without needing to do anything other than wait.

The problem is what happens if Den Bosch win. A Den Bosch victory over ADO could help rival club Vitesse overtake ADO in the period standings. If Vitesse claim that period spot directly instead of ADO, then there is no spare ticket to trickle down. Den Bosch's back-door entry disappears and their season is over.

In short, Den Bosch beating ADO could hand Vitesse the very play-off place that would otherwise fall to Den Bosch. The best thing Den Bosch can do for their own promotion hopes is make sure ADO finish as high as possible in the period table, and the simplest way to do that is to let ADO beat them.

Den Bosch lose 3-1, with their supporters celebrating ADO's goals and singing "we are going up". https://x.com/i/status/2047772682951839857

[Winston Biscuit]

Just realised Barcelona could win the league in 2 games time if results next weekend work out. 2 games time is Real Madrid at home!

[Winston Biscuit]

Sevilla in the bottom 3

[AthleticoSpizz]

FC Thun playing right now. A win get them the Swiss title. They are a small club who've never been champions before and were only promoted up to the top division last season

They've spent 17 seasons in the top division since 2001.

They were runners up in 2005 and qualified for the group stages of the Champions League the following season.

And Reading bought their best player in 2016

yeah, never understood the lack of Sandro ever getting a go at gametime.
Waste of paperwork

[From Despair To Where?]

They've spent 17 seasons in the top division since 2001.

They were runners up in 2005 and qualified for the group stages of the Champions League the following season.

And Reading bought their best player in 2016

yeah, never understood the lack of Sandro ever getting a go at gametime.
Waste of paperwork

Didn't he get sent off for violent conduct on his debut for the U21s?

[Winston Biscuit]

Real Zaragoza keeper ending his evening in style

https://x.com/LorenzoGelardo_/status/20 ... 84966?s=20

[Winston Biscuit]

Big scandal going on in Italy this week, with former referee Gianluca Rocchi (now head of Serie A & Serie B Referees) up in front of prosecutors on Thursday as he is accused of committing 'fraud in sport'

He is seen as Italy's most respected official since Collina, and after retiring in 2020 has been Head Of Match Officials and done a lot of working behind the scenes to help with VAR. But last season there was a match between Udinese and Parma where the 2 VAR officials spotted what they thought was a possible handball and so looked at it while play continued, the 2 VAR officials looked at it, could apparently be heard discussing between themselves that it was not a penalty, but before they communicated that to the referee, a knock on the VAR room window can be heard, the main VAR official turns around to that window and can be seen mouthing 'Is it a penalty'? then nods, turns back to the equipment and communicates to the ref that they think its a penalty and an on field review is needed. On field review happened, VAR told the ref it was a pen, ref gives a pen, pen is scored.

The knock on the window was apparently from Gianluca Rocchi.

An investigation then began, with more claims that he stays out of camera sight at Italy's version of Stockley Park, telling VAR officials what they should be deciding. The investigation then found suspicious activity around referees being chosen for games, and have accused him of colluding with officials from Inter Milan to get them favourable referees.