Europa League 2011

In celebration of the Hoops' famous victory, we have to have an Europa League thread.

Teams through:

Pot 1
Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
SC Braga (POR)
FC Schalke 04 (GER)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA)
FC København (DEN)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
FC Twente (NED)

Pot 2
Fulham FC (ENG)
Beşiktaş JK (TUR)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
Club Brugge KV (BEL)
AEK Athens FC (GRE)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
Udinese Calcio (ITA)
Athletic Club (ESP)
S.S. Lazio (ITA)

Pot 3
FC Salzburg (AUT)
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
FC Zürich (SUI)
Odense BK (DEN)
FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)
PAOK FC (GRE)
Birmingham City FC (ENG)
Stoke City FC (ENG)
Stade Rennais FC (FRA)
FK Austria Wien (AUT)
FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)
Hannover 96 (GER)

Pot 4
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)
Wisła Kraków (POL)
FC Vaslui (ROU)
FC Sion (SUI)
SK Sturm Graz (AUT)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
NK Maribor (SVN)
AEK Larnaca FC (CYP)
Malmö FF (SWE)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)

Interesting to see Copenhagen in Pot 1 and both the teams which put out the Old Firm in Pot 4. I wonder what Pot Partizan would have been in.

Europa League Groups

A
Tottenham,
Rubin Kazan,
PAOK Salonica,
Shamrock Rovers

B
Copenhagen,
Standard de Liege,
Hannover 96
Vorskla Poltava

C
PSV Eindhofen
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Rapid Bucharest
Legia Warsaw

D
Sporting Lisbon
Lazio
Zürich
Vaslui

E
Dynamo Kiev
Besiktas
Stoke City
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

F
Paris SG
Athletic Bilbao
Salzburg
Slovan Bratislava

G
AZ Aalkmaar
Metalist Kharkov
Austria Vienna
Malmõ

H
SC Braga
Club Bruges
Birmingham City
Maribor

I
Atletico de Madrid
Udinese
Stade Rennias
Sion

J
Schalke
Steaua Bucharest
Maccabi Haifa
AEK Larnaca

K
Twente Enschejde
Fulham
OB Odense
Vistla Krakow

L
Anderlecht
AEK Athens
Lokomotiv Moscow
Sturm Graz

Group A - Shamrock Rovers have to play Rubin Kazan, PAOK and Tottenham Hotspur. Oh how I would love to see them get something against Redknapp's mob.

:ball: PP

interesting few games ahead for Shamrock Rovers.. is it 6 games in total, 3 away and 3 at home.. they might pick up a few results !

Yes, same format as Champions League, should get points off Salonika, you would hope. Group F and I look intriguing - Rennes thrashed Red Star in the last round, so won't be pushovers. Birmingham and Fulham won't have too much trouble qualifying, but even though Kiev are fairly weak now, Stoke could well be making a first-round exit.

Vorskla Poltava to get out of the group. Dark horses there.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Interesting to see Copenhagen in Pot 1 and both the teams which put out the Old Firm in Pot 4. I wonder what Pot Partizan would have been in.

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Partizan's co-efficient of 15.850 would have seen them take the place of Hannover (13.887) in pot 3 behind Rapid Bucharest (16.164). Hannover would have moved down to pot 4.

It seems FC Sion could be thrown out of the EL. They signed players in spite of a transfer embargo imposed on them by FIFA and played them against Celtic in their playoff tie. A local court in Switzerland awarded an injunction that allowed the players to play in the Swiss league while the players made a challenge under Swiss law. FIFA as always maintains that local and national civil rulings cannot override its judgements. A decision is due to be made on Tuesday. Celtic could be reinstated if Sion are thrown out.

would be a very hard group for celtic if they replace sion.

So they should be. One of those players scored two of the goals that knocked Celtic out.

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Originally Posted by culloty82

Yes, same format as Champions League, should get points off Salonika, you would hope. Group F and I look intriguing - Rennes thrashed Red Star in the last round, so won't be pushovers. Birmingham and Fulham won't have too much trouble qualifying, but even though Kiev are fairly weak now, Stoke could well be making a first-round exit.

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Don't underestimate Stoke, Pulis is doing a fantastic job there. I was very impressed with how they breezed through their qualifying round and if he takes the competition seriously they could go a long way. Think of Middlesbrough making the final a few years back.

Kiev, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Besiktas would underestimate them at their peril in my view.

Atletico de Madrid
Udinese
Stade Rennias
Celtic ??

I'd be very surprised if Sion take their expulsion lying down. Not sure when the next rounds begin but you can bet there will be writs flying all over the place.

Crowds weren't bad at the games last night. In fact 50K saw the game between Lazio and FC Vaslul. Hannover got 42k for their game The lowest crowd was at Slovan Bratislava vs Athletic Bilboa followed by the game at Tallaght. Perhaps the Europa league isn't dead after all except to English clubs who disrespect by playing reserve sides. The English teams in the tournament are going to win feck all so why not try and win that.

Rovers gave a good account of themselves against a very good Russian side. Class finishing the difference.

I honestly think if Sky showed the EL, English clubs would take it more seriously. They really are the only countty not to treat it that way

Did Spurs not put out their youths? I bet Hearts wish they did the same at Tynecastle:D

Have to have a little moan about the kick off times for this tournament. 6pm kick offs are pure crap. A load of folk I know can't go the game Thursday and they're expecting only a crowd of 40k because of it. Why are so many of the games being shown so early in the day when it's a total pain for the supporters? Any reason being given?

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Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Have to have a little moan about the kick off times for this tournament. 6pm kick offs are pure crap. A load of folk I know can't go the game Thursday and they're expecting only a crowd of 40k because of it. Why are so many of the games being shown so early in the day when it's a total pain for the supporters? Any reason being given?

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Europea League has 2 set times. 6pm (7 CET) and 8.05 pm (9.05 CET)

Clubs don't have a say and the kick offs are pre-ordained at the draw

Purely a TV thing I guess. Soooo many Europa games on a Thursday and this gives them more opportunity for TV spondoolies.....

Yeah TV is God screw the supporters as well and the fact we lose about £200,000 in lost money through the gates. Modern football is pants.

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Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

the fact we lose about £200,000 in lost money through the gates. Modern football is pants.

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That lost money in gates is more than made up in TV revenue.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

That lost money in gates is more than made up in TV revenue.

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I'm not even sure it is to be honest. I don't think you get that much for Europa games. Anyway though it could be shown at a later time with a great audience for the TV companies. It seems daft to me.

You're guaranteed a million even if you lose all six games I think. So that would make up for E200k a match lost on gates, even if it happened three times.

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Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

I'm not even sure it is to be honest. I don't think you get that much for Europa games. Anyway though it could be shown at a later time with a great audience for the TV companies. It seems daft to me.

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Except it isn't about your team, which is small in european terms. There's 24 games on, and they're spread over 2 time periods to TV companies can get maximum bang for their buck.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

You're guaranteed a million even if you lose all six games I think. So that would make up for E200k a match lost on gates, even if it happened three times.

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Guaranteed a million? Maybe in prize money but not TV money.

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Except it isn't about your team, which is small in european terms. There's 24 games on, and they're spread over 2 time periods to TV companies can get maximum bang for their buck.

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We might be in a small league but as a club Celtic are not small in any comparison, we have one of the biggest worldwide support on the planet as our crowds in the US and Australia show.

I still don't get why they do it. It's only TV stations from the countries involved, so with all the different channels showing the British teams why they need to be on at different times. I wouldn't imagine the TV viewing figures would be that great for 6pm games as well. There's enough UK TV channels showing the Europa that they can fit them all on one time slot, they can manage it for the CL games, not sure why this is different.

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Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Guaranteed a million? Maybe in prize money but not TV money.

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It's one and the same. And again, that's if you lose all your games.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

It's one and the same. And again, that's if you lose all your games.

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Not really, as best I know ESPN buy the rights off it for our home games, it's not an arrangement with UEFA. For previous games, granted they were qualifiers, some games couldn't be shown because Celtic chose not to sell the rights as they wanted a bigger gate, so if UEFA make the TV cash could it just be for the group stages and not the qualifiers?

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Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

granted they were qualifiers

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There you go.

Group stage TV deals are done centrally, as far as I'm aware. The cash is split into the prize money. That's why TV stations can't buy individual games for the group stages; they have to buy into the groups package.

How myopic are managers? I saw Lennon saying that Hooper moved away or held his ground (can't remember which) to let the Udinese player past when it is obvious from the video and he actually moves towards the player and catches him. The old hands stretched outwards is usually a sure sign of guilt. A soft one ok but he definitely tries to impede him. I can understand the manager's frustration but I think it was a peno, albeit a soft one.

Terrible howler by Doyle for Birmingham to concede a goal. Not sure how he did in the rest of the game.

It was never a penalty and we deserved the win. At home we're such a different propostion. Just wish we could sort out the away form.

34,000 or something at it, lowest attendance I can ever remember for a European game. UEFA need to stop this 6pm kick off business. It was awful seeing so many empty when we're playing good oppositon. We had 52,000 for Sion and then 34k for a Serie A team. Stop the stupid kick-off times, UEFA!

Doyle made some great saves for Birmingham but that was some howler alright.

The top two teams by some distance in the Premiership outplayed by also rans in their leagues. Bilbao played Man U off the park. Perhaps they should take a leaf out of Trap's book and play the game in the opponent's half.

Every game is different. I don't but into this lark of a couple of matches proving that one league is better or worse than another. Chelsea knocked Valencia out of the Champions League, it should stand to reason that United would beat Bilbao but football doesn't work like that. Also, we are talking about a United team without Vidic and Ferdinand. They would probably still have been outplayed last night but it's doubtful they'd have given up as many chances/goals. It is obvious though that Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal aren't anywhere near as good as they were a few years back.

What a shocking display of wasteful shooting by Bilbao :D

Man Utd were limp, hard to believe this was a Fergie team throwing in the towel at half time, in a do or die European game. I almost felt some sympathy for Rooney, a football genius lost in a wilderness.

I heard some BBCR5 pundit this evening describing the Portuguese league as a nothing league.
I switched from the Sporting v Man City game to watch the 2nd half of Shalke v Twente, a rip roaring game, the Germans do like putting the Dutch back into their place.

Only saw about 60 mins of tonight's game but really enjoyed it. I thought it was a generally very high standard of football and showed that the game can also thrive outside the bloated commercial giants of the game. The atmosphere was fantastic, and in a way I feel sorry for the FAI getting FC Braga in Dublin. Those two teams in Dublin last year would have been brilliant.

It looked like one game too many for Bilbao. More than Barcelona even they seem to play the same 11 over and over and they looked a bit off the pace tonight. Atletico were outstanding though. Hard to believe these clubs are also-rans in Spanish terms.

Opened the Sports Section of the Daily Telegraph this morning to read a report of the game. 6 pages dedicated to the financial state of the premiership teams (you'd like that Stutts), a fairly small report on the Birmingham/Blackpool play off game and nothing (other than the result) on the Europa Final. Bizarre.

Bilbao were flat in the first half. They did rest about 6 players in their last league game, generally they did prioritise the EL over La Liga.

Some outstanding games this year in the EL, right up to the Final. Tough on Bilbao but Atletico had their measure.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Opened the Sports Section of the Daily Telegraph this morning to read a report of the game. 6 pages dedicated to the financial state of the premiership teams (you'd like that Stutts), a fairly small report on the Birmingham/Blackpool play off game and nothing (other than the result) on the Europa Final. Bizarre.

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It's the Torygraph. I bet it was full of rugger and cricket!

Falcao was brilliant last night. Man City and Chelsea will be sniffing around.

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Originally Posted by shakermaker1982

It's the Torygraph. I bet it was full of rugger and cricket!

Falcao was brilliant last night. Man City and Chelsea will be sniffing around.

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It's normally very good for football and WW2 obits which are my main interests. Which tv channels broadcast the game? Looks like across the water the CL, the PL and qualifying for the CL to make money is all that matters.