European Leagues Thread 2012-2026

[Winston Biscuit]

Country coefficient looking interesting in terms of the 15/16 points dropping off at the end of the season. We would only need to match (or even do slightly worse) than Spain over the next 15 months and we become numero uno

https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations ... /#/yr/2020

[Sanguine]

Which year did Wigan win the FA Cup? Copa Del Rey has that feel about it this year. Both Barca (to Bilbao) and Real Madrid (Sociedad) knocked out last night, and Mirandes, currently 11th in Segunda Division, have beaten Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Villereal to reach the semi-finals. Granada complete the last four.

Sociedad the most recent winners of the competition, in 1986-87.

[Winston Biscuit]

Inter come back from 2 down in the Milan derby to win 4-2, Lazio continue their ridiculous run with another win and Juve lose to keep Serie A the euro league to watch this season

Inter are now top on GD from Juve, with Lazio 1 point behind them both

Lazio at home to Inter next weekend

[Winston Biscuit]

Leverkusen were the only team in the top 7 to win in Germany at the weekend. Bayern stay top with Leipzig 2nd and Dortmund 3rd

Keeping one eye on Paderborn at the bottom. They looked early this season like they would get thumped every week but they are now only 1 point away from jumping out of the automatic relegation spots into the relegation play off spot. Their next 4 games include 3 against teams right above them too.

[stealthpapes]

Leverkusen were the only team in the top 7 to win in Germany at the weekend. Bayern stay top with Leipzig 2nd and Dortmund 3rd

Keeping one eye on Paderborn at the bottom. They looked early this season like they would get thumped every week but they are now only 1 point away from jumping out of the automatic relegation spots into the relegation play off spot. Their next 4 games include 3 against teams right above them too.

With City game cancelled, ended up watching Bayern Leipzig. Very slick football, end to end stuff.

[Winston Biscuit]

Been reading about the Belgian league this morning. Their Europa league qualifying process is somewhat mental.

16 teams, normal season for 30 games. Then the division splits and the top 6 teams have their own mini season, known as Play off 1, where the points they have are cut in half and they play to see who is the champion, who go into the Champions League, and who finshes 2nd and 3rd, who go into the Europa League

Play off 2 is then the teams who finished in 7th - 15th place in the top division, plus the teams who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier who are then all jumbled up into 2 groups of 6 teams who then play each other to see who comes top of each group. the 2 group winners have a 2 legged play off to get the champion of play off 2 and they then play off against the team who finished 4th in the league, unless that team won Play Off 1 and is in the CL, or unless they won the Belgian Cup and so are already qualified for the EL (if they have then they play the team who finished 5th) The winner of this is in the Europe League

The teams who finished 15th & 16th then play each other 5 times as a play off to see who gets relegated

f*cking lol

[Hendo]

Been reading about the Belgian league this morning. Their Europa league qualifying process is somewhat mental.

16 teams, normal season for 30 games. Then the division splits and the top 6 teams have their own mini season, known as Play off 1, where the points they have are cut in half and they play to see who is the champion, who go into the Champions League, and who finshes 2nd and 3rd, who go into the Europa League

Play off 2 is then the teams who finished in 7th - 15th place in the top division, plus the teams who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier who are then all jumbled up into 2 groups of 6 teams who then play each other to see who comes top of each group. the 2 group winners have a 2 legged play off to get the champion of play off 2 and they then play off against the team who finished 4th in the league, unless that team won Play Off 1 and is in the CL, or unless they won the Belgian Cup and so are already qualified for the EL (if they have then they play the team who finished 5th) The winner of this is in the Europe League

The teams who finished 15th & 16th then play each other 5 times as a play off to see who gets relegated

f*cking lol

I'm currently playing as K.V. Mechelen on Football Manager and I am certainly looking forward to the end of my first season

It does sound pretty crazy.

[Sanguine]

The Jupiler League is nuts, but slightly less nuts since 2015, when the relegation playoff was scrapped. The team finishing 16th (and bottom) is now relegated. Ends a rather silly affair where the loser of the relegation playoff would then playoff against the top three teams in the Second Division to see who played top flight football the following season. So for example in 2014-15, Lierse beat Cercle Brugge over four games in the relegation playoff, but were then relegated anyway as they subsequently lost out to a second division team in promotion playoff.

To add a final bit of silliness to the whole thing, the final of the Europa League playoff is called the Test Match.

[paultheroyal]

Been reading about the Belgian league this morning. Their Europa league qualifying process is somewhat mental.

16 teams, normal season for 30 games. Then the division splits and the top 6 teams have their own mini season, known as Play off 1, where the points they have are cut in half and they play to see who is the champion, who go into the Champions League, and who finshes 2nd and 3rd, who go into the Europa League

Play off 2 is then the teams who finished in 7th - 15th place in the top division, plus the teams who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier who are then all jumbled up into 2 groups of 6 teams who then play each other to see who comes top of each group. the 2 group winners have a 2 legged play off to get the champion of play off 2 and they then play off against the team who finished 4th in the league, unless that team won Play Off 1 and is in the CL, or unless they won the Belgian Cup and so are already qualified for the EL (if they have then they play the team who finished 5th) The winner of this is in the Europe League

The teams who finished 15th & 16th then play each other 5 times as a play off to see who gets relegated

f*cking lol

You sure thats not Ice Hockey?

[Winston Biscuit]

I also can't work out what happens to the team who wins the 2nd tier. They are not mentioned in any of the play offs?!

[Stranded]

I also can't work out what happens to the team who wins the 2nd tier. They are not mentioned in any of the play offs?!

8 team league - play two 14 game seasons. Winner of season 1 plays the winner of season 2 in a play-off. Winner promoted. Not clear what happens if the same team wins both halves.

EDIT: just found it - they would be automatically promoted.

[Winston Biscuit]

EDIT: just found it - they would be automatically promoted.

I get that they are auto promoted, I am talking about the Europa League. Why are the teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier entered into the Europa League play offs but not seemingly the team that finishes 1st?

[Stranded]

EDIT: just found it - they would be automatically promoted.

I get that they are auto promoted, but why are the teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier entered into the Europa League play offs but not seemingly the team that finishes 1st?

According to what I can see they will go into Group C of the Europa League play off with the teams who finished 9th and 12th in Division 1 and the side who finished 4th in Division 2

[Winston Biscuit]

EDIT: just found it - they would be automatically promoted.

I get that they are auto promoted, but why are the teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd tier entered into the Europa League play offs but not seemingly the team that finishes 1st?

According to what I can see they will go into Group C of the Europa League play off with the teams who finished 9th and 12th in Division 1 and the side who finished 4th in Division 2

WTF?! it's like they have just randomly picked mental solutions for the lolz

[Winston Biscuit]

Lazio beat Inter to go 2nd and stay 1 point off the top

Looking at the fixture Inter had the whole top 7 left to play and all away from home, and lost the first of those this weekend.

Still Juve Vs Inter and Juve Vs Lazio to come this season, and dont discount Atalanta having a say in what happens too.

[Stranded]

Bayern and Leipzig both win again so Bayern lead by a point with Dortmund and Mönchengladbach another 3 points behind.

Bayern doing what seems to be traditional now and simply blitzing the start of the 2nd half of the season, winning 4 and drawing 1 in the 5 games played to date. In their wins they have scored 5, 4 twice and 3.

2. Bundesliga promotion race looking interesting. Unheralded Bielefeld lead the way with the big 2 Hamburg & Stuttgart making up the top 3 - if Stuttgart win tonight they go level on points with Hamburg - 3 behind Bielefeld - all still have to play each other.

[Sanguine]

Random one, but there was something unusual about the Champions League this season, in that the qualifying rounds didn't feature BATE Borisov, of Belarus. BATE came second in the league last season, ending a run of 13 (THIRTEEN) consecutive league titles dating back to 2005-06.

[Whore Jackie]

Lazio beat Inter to go 2nd and stay 1 point off the top

Looking at the fixture Inter had the whole top 7 left to play and all away from home, and lost the first of those this weekend.

Still Juve Vs Inter and Juve Vs Lazio to come this season, and dont discount Atalanta having a say in what happens too.

Yep, this was as every bit as good as you’d hope. Properly big stadium, with the pitch nearer than you’d think with its running track, and an almost capacity crowd. Inter brought a huge amount of fans, both in their allocated section and loads in the Lazio stand we were in. Probably 1 in 5, all decked out in Inter scarves, hats, tops etc, they made no effort to hide their allegiance and surprisingly there seemed to be no issues with the home supporters.

A mixture of being not being 100% sure of how to get there, what the security arrangements would be, and thinking it was a 7.45 KO – as per the Sky Sports Serie A website – meant we got there at 5.45. Loads of people were already outside the ground, drinking beer etc, and it was only when we got in the ground after a few beers, and wondered why the Curva Nord was so empty did we notice the countdown clock still indicating there was still 1 3/4 hours to KO. The stadium though was more than 1/2 full, the Italians love to get to a game properly early. Build-up was pretty decent, light show, chap energetically playing a violin in the centre circle complete with LED-lit bow, another chap belting out Oasis and a non-descript Euro song, and most exciting of all Gazza. Got a huge roar as he ran onto the pitch. Only realised a few moments later he was actually the Lazio eagle handler and not the Geordie maestro. Still the eagle was pretty cool as it swooped around the Olimpico before landing on its special plinthe.

Game was pretty even, two decent teams, superbly marshalled by Gianluca Rocchi who was an absolute master at just letting the game flow. Lazio looked slightly the better side, but Inter created quite a lot. Ashley Young was superb for them, Lukaku pretty average and a real moaner, and Eriksen dreadful when he came on late. Best player on the pitch, by a country mile, was Milinkovic-Savic. Absolutely ran the midfield and scored a beautiful winner.
Both Conte and Inzaghi were hugely animated. Fcuking huge technical areas, you could easily have a decent 5-a-side match in them, and they both spent the entire match hurtling up and down them. Don’t know if this an Italian thing, but interestingly* the half-time forkers don’t use forks but more of a hoe/pick axe device.

One particular Lazio fan, two rows in front of us, who’d been in his seat when we arrived, was the only Italian I saw all weekend who liked a beer. Jesus they love to nurse a drink. Anyway he must have polished 7 or 8 beers by the end, got through a bag of rolling tobacco, sang all game and generally made Marco Tardelli look apathetic. It got pretty edgy towards the end as Inter strived for an equaliser, and there was a huge groan when the added time got displayed. Weirdly, this was the moment he decided was the opportune moment to leave. So off he trundled with his girlfriend and a fair few others and completely missed the unbridled riotous celebrations at the end. ULOLtra.

[South Coast Royal]

My Turkish mate is a big Galatasaray fan and he told me that today's game v old rivals Fenerbahce is always lively and more so this season as both try to make up ground and challenge for the title.
I looked at the bookings odds but decided not to have a bet as the anticipated number of cards was 8 (the highest in any English Premier League game is normally 5).

I watched the game as a live stream and Gala won 3-1 away so my mate will be delighted.

The card count was 12 yellows and 2 reds and the added time 10 minutes.
VAR was called into play but was quicker than what we get.
My 12/1 about Gala winning the title is now a distinct possibility.

[Sanguine]

40 goals in 30 games this season for Haaland, and he hasn't yet played 2,000 minutes. His finish at the weekend against Bremen was pure instinct, 7 or 8 yards out and on the angle, rifled into the roof of the net. He also has 40 total career league goals - no idea what European records he might break, but Robbie Fowler holds the English league record to 50 goals, aged 20 years and 8 months. Haaland doesn't reach that age until March 2021.

Edit: Mbappe reached 50 league goals at 20 years and 2 months.