Will Northern Europe be separate from Central Europe in the draw or will UEFA just combine both.
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Will Northern Europe be separate from Central Europe in the draw or will UEFA just combine both.
Its loose. They don't have a strict rule on geaographic groupings anymore but they still tend to keep Northern teams (everyone North of Poland, Lux, Belarus etc) together but it depends on numbers. Usually you'll see one or two teams from Azerbaijan, Armena, Georgia or that region in the pre draw groups with Northern European teams to make up the numbers. There tends to be more Northern non seeds than seeds which complicates things.
That’s my biggest fear is a wildcard of sorts tossed in to bulk out a pot. The logistics of getting to some of these countries for LOI sides can be a nightmare.
In the past I've figured out routes to every possible destination, one year I had two routes to a Kazahkstan team near the Uzbeki border. The flight via Tashkent was about 800 euro. The flight via Almaty was much longer and over 2 grand. The problem with the Taskkent flight was it would require a visa for Uzbekistan which I could only get in London. I'm hoping we get Wales or similar this year, though I would love a trip to the Faroes.
The biggest bonus is the time to arrange any trip which wasn’t always the case with UEFA.
I dunno if the Aviva would be a runner at all. Not sure how many Celtic fans would pay to watch Rangers against some random Irish club they've barely heard of, and how would you stop 10,000 Nordie nutjobs from getting tickets in the 'home' end? Tallaght would be easier to manage, more financially viable and a lot easier to manage for the club and the Gardai. Definitely a draw to avoid, it's not a money spinner, it's not a pleasant away trip and under Stevie G they're hugely improved and would rightly be red hot favourites against any Irish side
Yeah all of the above for sure but the lure of 10000 nut job nordies at €30 a head is tempting :)
Hopefully Kazakstan and Azerbajan for you all!😄
I think the 10,000 northie nut jobs are exactly what they would be looking for (along with a few disso hangers on from here.)
Unfortunately football would have little to do with it so best left alone even though it would be financially great - huge crowd, probably TV money and little travel.
Anyway
The wiki page for the Europa League has the second round draw down for the day after the first round draw. That seems strange; is it correct?
First round of CL draw takes place on Tues and Second round on Weds
https://www.dundalkfc.com/champions-...-need-to-know/
More than that though - the reason the first two rounds were on the same day was so you could meet the opposition club officials on the day.
This seems to demand that small clubs' officials stay an extra day in Switzerland at a time when there's a lot of work to be done in a short period of time.
Don't understand the logic at all.
Will the pots be released tomorrow or only on the day of the draw.
Love this time of year.