Football (Soccer) Thread

[celedhring]

I totally had no idea this existed. I would say it's UEFA once again being greedy but I'm not sure there's much money to be made off Garabag - Omonoia games.

[Sheilbh]

What's this shit?

The greatest football competition in Europe.

I say that solely because in the run-offs a Portuguese team (I forget who) beat Spurs in the first round and posted a Tik Tok of their mascot screwing the Spurs' mascot

Also, realistically it's the only European competition Everton might get into in the next few years and I think it could make for fun travel/trips for fans. I, for one, would be very excited to be travelling to *checks notes* Murska Sobota.

[The Larch]

It seems to be quite heavy on Eastern European teams, that's for sure, so plenty of exotic matches will take place thanks to it.

[Sheilbh]

It seems to be quite heavy on Eastern European teams, that's for sure, so plenty of exotic matches will take place thanks to it.

Yeah - and I'm of an age that gets nostalgic about Red Star popping up in the Champion's League, or Steuau Bucharest or Dynamo (Kyiv or Split or Zagreb) going on a run.

I do kind of hate that the other UEFA competitions are basically the same(ish) teams from the same(ish) 4-5 leagues. I think it's ridiculous when the continent swoons for Ajax as the romantic team having a deep run in a European competition

[The Larch]

What's this shit?

The greatest football competition in Europe.

I say that solely because in the run-offs a Portuguese team (I forget who) beat Spurs in the first round and posted a Tik Tok of their mascot screwing the Spurs' mascot

Paços de Ferreira! Their mascot is a beaver because the town's main industry is furniture making. 

Also, realistically it's the only European competition Everton might get into in the next few years and I think it could make for fun travel/trips for fans. I, for one, would be very excited to be travelling to *checks notes* Murska Sobota.

Same for my team, proud winners of the Intertoto Cup.

[Sheilbh]

Same for my team, proud winners of the Intertoto Cup.

We won the Cup Winners' Cup (if I could change one thing in football - I'd bring it back ) the year before I was born.

[The Larch]

It seems to be quite heavy on Eastern European teams, that's for sure, so plenty of exotic matches will take place thanks to it.

Yeah - and I'm of an age that gets nostalgic about Red Star popping up in the Champion's League, or Steuau Bucharest or Dynamo (Kyiv or Split or Zagreb) going on a run.

The team from Split is Hajduk, not Dinamo.  If Arkestra was here he'd get pretty mad if you mixed them up. 

Red Star almost qualified for the CL Group Stage, but was kicked out by Sheriff Tiraspol, the Transdnistrian team and champions of the mighty Moldavian league. 

I do kind of hate that the other UEFA competitions are basically the same(ish) teams from the same(ish) 4-5 leagues. I think it's ridiculous when the continent swoons for Ajax as the romantic team having a deep run in a European competition

Yeah, the Champions League is quite monotonous that way, its the same teams over and over and over in different combinations, with the odd new team for colour and a happy surprise of a deep run by an unexpected team like Ajax a couple of years ago.

The Europa League is slightly more varied.

[Sheilbh]

The team from Split is Hajduk, not Dinamo.  If Arkestra was here he'd get pretty mad if you mixed them up. 

You're right - God, I'm embarassed 

Red Star almost qualified for the CL Group Stage, but was kicked out by Sheriff Tiraspol, the Transdnistrian team and champions of the mighty Moldavian league. 

Yeah - and then I read a piece about how I really should support Sheriff even if they are the East European minnow because they're actually a sort of Transdnistrian state team and mainly used for money laundering.

[The Larch]

Red Star almost qualified for the CL Group Stage, but was kicked out by Sheriff Tiraspol, the Transdnistrian team and champions of the mighty Moldavian league. 

Yeah - and then I read a piece about how I really should support Sheriff even if they are the East European minnow because they're actually a sort of Transdnistrian state team and mainly used for money laundering.

Yeah, apparently the company that owns the club (Sheriff) are the monopolistic masters of Transdnistria, and they own from supermarkets and gas stations to a TV station and the mobile phone network.

[Duque de Bragança]

What's this shit?

The Conference League? The brand new UEFA competition below the Europa League, it starts this year. Villarreal would have played on it if they hadn't won the Europa League last season.

Back to three European Cups, as before the '90s, though it is still very unbalanced and more of a bone for third-tier teams or big ones who flopped in their respective leagues.
In good news for the Ligue des Tas Lents, Paços de Ferreira was beaten by Tottenham (thanks Harry Kane) and Santa Clara lost 2-0 to Partizan Belgrade, after winning 2-1 in Portugal so no Portuguese team in the Conference League.

Tottenham and AS Roma are the biggest teams.

If Intertoto Cup wins count, I guess Braga is one of the big Portuguese teams as well. 
It's the one Cup French clubs took very seriously leading with 12 wins. 

[FunkMonk]

I think Tottenham played a team in the conference league that had a railroad track running on the pitch 

*On the sidelines to be exact, not within the actual legal pitch

[Sheilbh]

And it's exactly that glamour that I want Everton to aspire to

[Duque de Bragança]

I think Tottenham played a team in the conference league that had a railroad track running on the pitch 

*On the sidelines to be exact, not within the actual legal pitch

Disappointing. 

[The Larch]

Out of curiosity, I've been checking which teams go to the Conference League and it seems to have a clear bias towards medium and small leagues. Top 5 leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France) send only one team in theory (Spain doesn't send any team in this edition because Villarreal, the team that should go, won the Europa League and thus will be playing the Champions League instead), while the next 11 leagues (Portugal, Russia, Belgium, Ukraine, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Denmark, Scotland, Czech Republic and Cyprus) send 2 teams, and almost every other league in the continent send 3 teams (except Liechenstein, that only sends 1, and the bottom 5 leagues [Estonia, Kosovo, Faroe Islands, Andorra and San Marino] that send only 2).

Those ranks are increased by Europa League drop-downs, that's why for instance this year there are 3 Dutch teams, when theoretically they'd only send 2.

[The Larch]

I think Tottenham played a team in the conference league that had a railroad track running on the pitch 

*On the sidelines to be exact, not within the actual legal pitch

I think that was a joke, Tottenham only played the aforementioned Paços de Ferreira, and they don't have a train running through their pitch. They do have a horny beaver mascot that pretended to bugger the Tottenham mascot after they won at home 1 - 0. 



The ones that have the train through their pitch is an amateur Slovakian team called Tartan Cierny Balog. Quite picturesque, I must say.