UEFA Coefficient

It's that time of the year again when myself, the UCD fans and a few other nerds get excited about the UEFA Coefficient.

In tonight's CL games only 2 seeded teams out of 7 won.

Lithuania are ranked just above us and their champions lost at the Montenegran team, so a win for Derry tomorrow would put us ranked above them already and up to the dizzying heights of 33rd in Europe!
The Latvian (29) champions lost in Wales and the Finnish (31) champions had a late winner coming from behind to win in San Marino.

Linfield's draw was a good result but the Kazakh champions got a draw away from home and with TNS winning there are only 6 leagues worse ranked, one of them being Montenegro as they have no rating.

A move up to 33rd for the eL would probably guarantee both clubs being seeded in the UEFA Cup.

Yeah there is plenty of scope for improvement in our ranking based on those results. Our aim this year should be to get at least 2 more co-efficient points and get all 3 teams seeded going forward. This could realistically be achieved from the following results:

Derry QR1: 2 Wins (2)
Drogheda QR1: 2 Wins (2)
Pats QR1: 1 Draw (.5)

Derry QR2: 2 Losses (0)
Drogheda QR2: 1 Win and 1 Draw (1.5)

Drogheda Round 1: 1 Draw (1)

= 7 Points => Coefficient of 2.333

This is surely a realistic target to aim for?

Askng a lot for Drogheda to get a win and a draw in the second round and for Derry to get 2 wins in the first.

I'd expect Derry to win at home and Drogs to win both legs. If Derry qualify they'll more than likely get nothing from Donetsk and a lot depends on Drogheda's draw. If they get Dunfermeline we could be laughing but there a fair few high profile teams ahead of the Scots.

If Pats get anything it'd be a bonus. Don't want to be Mr Doom & Gloom but I wouldn't be expecting massive things

Agreed, you can't really expect Drogs to qualify for the 1st round proper of the UEFA Cup. Derry were fortunate that they drew Gretna but there's a chance that Drogs will be drawn against the English UEFA Cup team (Blackburn is it?) otherwise it will be a Scandanavian team.

The won't get the English UEFA cup team but may get the Intertoto qualifier. Top seeds in the 2nd qualifying round will be OB Odense, Standard Liège, Vålerengen IF and Dunfermline (if OB and Valerengen qualify)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/...eeduc2007.html

Sorry, that should have been Intertoto team.

With a bit of luck they'll be drawn against Dunfermline or a Swedish team.

<Edit>
Actually it looks as if all the Swedish teams will be unseeded too.

They'll be seeded if one or two unseeded teams win in the first round. Guess which unseeded team I want to win?

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Originally Posted by Dodge

They'll be seeded if one or two unseeded teams win in the first round. Guess which unseeded team I want to win?

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SP Libetad?! ;)

2 points is a good target to have every year - if we could get up to having a running total of around 10, then we'd be comfortably inside the top 30 and good years could step us up a bit further. I think that last year was a very good year, and probably won't be repeated this year, so our target should be to move up a few places to get both teams seeded in the UEFA. This year's draw mroe than ever shows the importance of seeding. It's also possible that it will be more difficult to be seeded next year if Belarus and San Marino aren't moved into the Northern division.

It won't be easy though, Finland are only dropping .33 off their coefficent this year, and they are the next team above us in the Northern division. Lithuania are definitely catchable if results go well, so here's hoping.

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Originally Posted by JC_GUFC

SP Libetad?! ;)

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Well you got the San bit right even if its a different language)

I know it's expecting a lot, but this is what we should be aiming for. I'd be very disappointed if one team didn't get to the third round. We've done it the last three years in a row remember - Shels in 2004, Cork in 2005 and Derry in 2006. They all reached the 1st Round of the Uefa Cup remember.

But as you all said, a lot depends on the draw.

I think the draw has not been kind to Irish clubs this year whereas last year it was. Getting Odense in the first round of the UEFA Cup compared to getting Gretna in the second round are the two extremes of the luck of the draw.

Considering the draw, Drogheda are the only team you'd expect to get through the first round without fail. Derry should get through, but a lot depends on the result they get tonight, and if they do get through against Pyunik, the chances of beating Shakhtar Donetsk are pretty slim.

Don't forget though the inital draw last year was quite tricky.

Derry had Goteborg and very few if any thought they would progress.

Likewise Cork had APOEL Nicosia in the CL who were one of the top seeds.

It was only Drogheda who had a draw that was easy enough, but even then Drogs were unproven at European level and people were unsure if they would pull a Longford or not.

I think overall the draw is On Par with last years at this stage.

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I think overall the draw is On Par with last years at this stage.

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gretna are not as good as donetsk, i know different competitions but still. Didnt donetsk hammer celtic only a couple of seasons ago....i know it was almost overturned in the return leg but still.

But thats the 2nd round of the CL qualifiers, the same round Cork got Red Star Belgrade (shove your serbian spelling up your arse!) so its pretty equivalent

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

gretna are not as good as donetsk, i know different competitions but still. Didnt donetsk hammer celtic only a couple of seasons ago....i know it was almost overturned in the return leg but still.

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That was Artmedia Bratislava i think.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

gretna are not as good as donetsk, i know different competitions but still. Didnt donetsk hammer celtic only a couple of seasons ago....i know it was almost overturned in the return leg but still.

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Yeah. Also they've just signed Lucarelli from Livorno, who has been the top scorer in the Serie A over the past 3 seasons.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

Didnt donetsk hammer celtic only a couple of seasons ago....i know it was almost overturned in the return leg but still.

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Funny thing was people were surprised at that result. The funniest result in Europe was when Artmedia beat Celtic 5-0! :eek:

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Originally Posted by mattl

Likewise Cork had APOEL Nicosia in the CL who were one of the top seeds.

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pedantic i know, but it was Apollon Limmasol

ya but in that one celtic won at home 4 - 0 or something like that jufc, whereas shankestar beat them convincgly. and that was basically 5 stupid mistakes in that game, like the wales one against slovakia ( funnily enough )