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Europa League 2009-10
Topic Started: Aug 7 2009, 08:40 PM (1,528 Views)
valenciano
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Here is the preliminary round draw for the new Europa League which includes teams who were eliminated last week from the Champions League, such as Shakhtar Donetsk. The winners of these matches and the 10 clubs eliminated in the final preliminary round of the Champions League will enetr the group stage of the Europa League:

PAOK Salónica (GRE) - Heerenveen (HOL)

Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) - Hearts (ESC)

Werder Bremen (GER) - Aktobe (KAZ)

Everton (ING) - Sigma Olomouc (CZE)

BATE Borisov (BLR) - Litex Lovech (BUL)

NAC Breda (HOL) - Villarreal (ESP)

Lech Poznan (POL) - Brujas (BEL)

Fulham (ING) - Amkar Perm (RUS)

Galatasaray (TUR) - Levadia Tallin (EST)

Teplice (CZE) - Hapoel Tel Aviv (ISR)

Metallurh Donetsk (UKR) - Austria Viena (AUT)

Twente (HOL) - Qarabag (AZE)

Roma (ITA) - Kosice (SVK)

Dinamo Moscú (RUS) - CSKA Sofía (BUL)

Genk (BEL) - Lille (FRA)

PSV Eindhoven (HOL) - Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv (ISR)

Lazio (ITA) - Elfsborg (SWE)

Trabzonspor (TUR) - Toulouse (FRA)

Partizan (SRB) - Zilina (SVK)

FK Baki (AZE) - Basilea (SUI)

Ajax (HOL) - Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) - Sivasspor (TUR)

Brondby (DIN) - Hertha Berlín (GER)

Athletic (ESP) - Tromsoe (NOR)

Sarajevo (BIH) - 1907 Cluj (RUM)

Rapid Viena (AUT) - Aston Villa (ING)

Steaua Bucarest (RUM) - Saint Patrik's (IRL)

Sparta Praga (CZE) - Maribor (SLO)

Zenit San Petersburgo (RUS) - Nacional (POR)

Génova (ITA) - Odense (DIN)

Dinamo Bucarest (RUM) - Sloven Liberec (CZE)

Guingamp (FRA) - Hamburgo (GER)

Sion (SUI) - Fenerbahce (TUR)

Sturm Graz (AUT) - Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)

Slavia Praga (CZE) - Estrella Roja (SRB)

Benfica (POR) - Vorskla Poltava (UKR)

Vaslui (RUM) - AEK Atenas (GRE)

Stabaek (NOR) - Valencia (ESP).

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Winslow
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And after the dramatic outpouring of interest :rolleyes: we now have the group stage draw:

Group A
Ajax (Netherlands)
Anderlecht (Belgium)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Timisoara (Romania)

Group B
Valencia (Spain)
Lille (France)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Genoa (Italy)

Group C
Hamburger SV (Germany)
Celtic (Scotland)
Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
Rapid Vienna (Austria)

Group D
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
SC Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Ventspils (Latvia)

Group E
AS Roma (Italy)
FC Basel (Switzerland)
Fulham (England)
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)

Group F
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Dinamo Bucharest (Romania)
Sturm Graz (Austria)

Group G
Villarreal (Spain)
Lazio (Italy)
Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)
Salzburg (Austria)

Group H
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
FC Twente (Netherlands)
FC Sheriff (Moldova)

Group I
Benfica (Portugal)
Everton (England)
AEK Athens (Greece)
BATE Borisov (Belarus)

Group J
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
FC Brugge (Belgium)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Toulouse (France)

Group K
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Cluj (Romania)

Group L
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Austria Vienna (Austria)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Nacional (Portugal)

Note the groups have four teams instead of five. There are some pretty big clubs involved, and a few interesting debutants. I'll be watching Group I, expecting Everton to master BATE home and away. (Yes, that's so unnecessary.)
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Merengue
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Note the groups have four teams instead of five. There are some pretty big clubs involved, and a few interesting debutants. I'll be watching Group I, expecting Everton to master BATE home and away. (Yes, that's so unnecessary.)

Oh you know you couldn't resist Winslow!

I admit i do not know exactly how this tourney is being run, do the winners and runner up in each group advance? That would be 24 teams plus you add the 8 3rd place clubs from the Champions League to come up with 32 teams in the spring knockout stage.
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shelsoccer
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I've harped in the Champions League thread about the lack of success of Swedish clubs. But, now we're down to the Europa League and not only are there no Swedish teams, there is just one Scandavian team (Copenhagen).

So, in the two Euro cups, Sweden, Denmark and Norway have exactly one representative. Pretty sad. There's absolutely no reason that leagues in these countries shouldn't be on par with leagues in Eastern Europe, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and perhaps even Holland, Portugal and Scotland.

I think there needs to be a comprehensive assessment of club football in Scandavia.
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shelsoccer
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Would help my credibility if I would spell Scandanavia correctly.
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Manzanares
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shelsoccer,Aug 29 2009
01:03 PM
I've harped in the Champions League thread about the lack of success of Swedish clubs.  But, now we're down to the Europa League and not only are there no Swedish teams, there is just one Scandavian team (Copenhagen). 

So, in the two Euro cups, Sweden, Denmark and Norway have exactly one representative.  Pretty sad.  There's absolutely no reason that leagues in these countries shouldn't be on par with leagues in Eastern Europe, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and perhaps even Holland, Portugal and Scotland.

I think there needs to be a comprehensive assessment of club football in Scandavia.

Spelling apart and don't worry about that, we all make typos here, you make an interesting point. I can't really recall Norwegian clubs ever doing much in Europe and Danish clubs have done better without really being threats to win ttiles but it is a long way now from the time when Swedish clubs like IFK Goteborg were winning the UEFA Cup and Malmo were European Cup runnerup.

I know they don't have the money to compete with clubs from the major leagues throughout Europe but the point about them being behind eastern European, Swiss, Austrain and Belgian clubs is a good one. I don't think it is a question of the better Scandinavian players leaving their clubs earlier, to my thinking they've always left early. Even in the 80s, Scandinavian players were scattered all over Europe. And while Denmark are not as strong as they were in the 80s and early 90s, they are hardly weaklings now. Overall I do not think the Scandinavian national teams' level of play has changed much, but their club success in Europe certainly has.
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valenciano
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So the Europa league group stage began and the inaugural tournament is experimenting with an additional assistant referee behind each goal, supposedly to help call fouls inside the penalty area, spot dives and to rule on whether the ball has crossed the line. So far no controversy after the first day of the experiment. But the tournament served up it's share of surprises with Roma, Lazio, Fenerbhace, Celtic and Hamburg all losing.

Group A
Ajax Amsterdam 0 - 0 FC Timisoara
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 2 Anderlecht

Group B
Genoa 2 - 0 Slavia Prague
Lille 1 - 1 Valencia

Group C
Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 - 1 Celtic
Rapid Vienna 3 - 0 Hamburger SV

Group D
Hertha BSC 1 - 1 Ventspils
SC Heerenveen 2 - 3 Sporting Lisbon

Group E
Basel 2 - 0 AS Roma
CSKA Sofia 1 - 1 Fulham

Group F
Panathinaikos 1 - 3 Galatasaray
Sturm Graz 0 - 1 Dinamo Bucuresti

Group G
Lazio 1 - 2 RB Salzburg
Villarreal 1 - 0 Levski Sofia

Group H
Fenerbahce 1 - 2 FC Twente Enschede
Steaua Bucuresti 0 - 0 FC Sheriff

Group I
Benfica 2 - 0 BATE Borisov
Everton 4 - 0 AEK Athens

Group J
Club Brugge 1 - 4 Shakhtar Donetsk
Partizan Belgrade 2 - 3 Toulouse

Group K
CFR Cluj 2 - 0 FC Copenhagen
Sparta Prague 2 - 2 PSV Eindhoven

Group L
Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 Austria Vienna
Nacional 2 - 3 Werder Bremen

Some clubs used reserves in this first group game, my club Valencia were one of them and that helepd contribute to them only drawing their first game 1-1 away to Lille. That certainly beats Hamburg losing by 3 goals!
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Mr. Pither
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So the Europa league group stage began and the inaugural tournament is experimenting with an additional assistant referee behind each goal, supposedly to help call fouls inside the penalty area, spot dives and to rule on whether the ball has crossed the line. So far no controversy after the first day of the experiment.

Everton's manager David Moyes was complaining that his player Saha was sent off for retaliation to a kick by AEK's Juanfran but even the extra pair of eyes didn't catch that, only Saha's retaliation. It may not be fool proof but is a worthy experiment. And these extra officials are not just rooted to being beind the goal line, they also do come out onto the field near the goal lines. In Everton's match the extra ref was right there to determine that an Everton player dove inside the box. Which might explain why Moyes was angered over Saha's dismissal.

Galatasaray with a comfortable win in Greece over Panathinaikos. Frank Rijkaard's new club defeating the club coached by his former assistant at Barcelona, Henk Ten Cate.
P-I-T-H-E-R ...as in Brotherhood, but with PI instead of the BRO and no HOOD
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Simon
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One of the extra officials awarded Everton a corner from which they scored, so it can't all be bad for Moyes.

Whether this competition is called the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the UEFA Cup or the Europa League, the thing that matters is the level of quality and how seriously everyone takes it. On that note, I think the alarm bells are already ringing. As valenciano says, various clubs fielded reserve sides last night. Surprise results are great in cup football, but somehow it didn't reflect well on the Europa League that Roma, Ajax, Valencia, Hamburg and Lazio all slipped up. Of course, perhaps it's nothing to be worried about at all as Everton, Bilbao, Villarreal, Werder Bremen and Shakhtar all won. We'll have to judge it over the weeks and months to come.

Fulham played their reserves in Bulgaria and have openly stated that they haven't got the squad for a PL season and a large European competition involving group stages etc. These clubs always conclude that PL is what they should concentrate on, as English clubs have been doing for several years now. And yet I'm old-fashioned enough to think that fans still mainly want to see their team getting to finals and winning something. Okay, Fulham would be unlikely winners of the Europa League, but why not give it your best shot, even if it does mean finishing 13th in the league rather than 7th? At least Everton played their strongest team and were rewarded with an easy 4-0 win over AEK Athens, but then they were hardly in a position to do anything else after a bad start to the league season.
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Merengue
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What I always find confounding about clubs claiming we will concentrate on our league season and not a European competition like the UEFA Cup now Europa League is what exactly are they aiming for in league competition? A European qualifying place!
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Yogi
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Merengue,Sep 18 2009
11:06 AM
What I always find confounding about clubs claiming we will concentrate on our league season and not a European competition like the UEFA Cup now Europa League is what exactly are they aiming for in league competition? A European qualifying place!

haha, well that is true Merengue and surprisingly that is not brought up when managers claim they are going to instead concentrate on their league instead of European play.

We have not been discussing the Europa League much but here is an article about this week's play, like the Champions League, 4 of 6 group games have been played and three clubs have assured their qualification to the knockout rounds: Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray and Werder Bremen.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-...uters&type=lgns
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valenciano
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http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=a...ov=ap&type=lgns

7 teams have already qualified for the knockout stages of the competition: Ajax, Benfica, Hamburg, Red Bull Salzburg, Villarreal, Everton and Hapoel Tel Aviv. Celtic and Lazio are two high profile clubs who are already out of the competition.
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Merengue
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Some more clubs have advanced:

Europa League Results

PSV, Sporting Lisbon, Athletic Bilbao, Roma and Werder Bremen.

Sound slike a bit of controversy though with Athletic Bilbao's match:

Athletic Bilbao (3-1-1) won 3-0 at Austria Vienna (0-3-2) to qualify in second place in Group L. Fans caused play to be held up for 20 minutes in the 67th by launching fireworks onto the field to protest two contentious goals. Fans yelled “Schiebung (swindle)” because Bilbao’s first goal benefited from an offside decision and the second goal came from a free kick they thought was wrongly awarded by Norwegian referee Svein Oddvar Moen.

Fernando Lorente and Mikel San Jose had got those contentious goals and Llorente added another seven minutes from the end.
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Sporting
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Well, I think there was more to the trouble in Vienna than a dispute over a goal. Evidently, there had been a meeting in the city of various neo-Nazi groups from Austria, Italy, Bulgaria and elsewhere. Various fascist banners were displayed at the stadium, one reading "Viva Franco". The controversy over the wrongly awarded goals seems to have been nothing more than a pathetic excuse to allow these idiots to hold up the game.

I think that the Austrian authorities will have some explaining to do.
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Pepe
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Sporting,Dec 4 2009
12:52 AM
Well, I think there was more to the trouble in Vienna than a dispute over a goal. Evidently, there had been a meeting in the city of various neo-Nazi groups from Austria, Italy, Bulgaria and elsewhere. Various fascist banners were displayed at the stadium, one reading "Viva Franco". The controversy over the wrongly awarded goals seems to have been nothing more than a pathetic excuse to allow these idiots to hold up the game.

I think that the Austrian authorities will have some explaining to do.

Yes this was pretty disgusting, Sporting has summed it up well. Seems as if the hereditors of Kurt Waldheim are alive and well in Austria.
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