UEFA Europa League 2017-18

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dnina10
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UEFA Europa League 2017-18

Post by dnina10 »

Well, we finally have virtually all of the teams in next season's Europa League. Like previous years, this upcoming season of the UEFA Europa League should be an enticing and thrilling competition. In two weeks time, 116 teams will know their fate for the first two (or just the second) qualifying round(s). From the end of June to the middle of next May, 268 qualifying round games, 144 group stage matches, and 61 knockout round fixtures will provide us with the Europa League champion for 2017-18. I hope, like myself, we will enjoy these 473 matches and, like always, have intriguing conversations about them.
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Post by Todor »

dnina10 wrote:In two weeks time, 116 teams will know their fate for the first two (or just the second) qualifying round(s).
And for 50 of them, the adventure will end on 06.07 and only 33 will make it past 20.07 before even their domestic season will have started. :evil:
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Post by Dragonite »

Don’t you guys think that most of the teams directly qualified to the EL are unworthy of it and should be playing the qualifiers instead? :confused:

Here’s the list: Villarreal, Real Sociedad, FC Koln, Hertha Berlin, Arsenal, Atalanta, Lazio, Vitória Guimarães, Lyon, Lokomotiv Moscow, Zorya, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse, Konyaspor, Lugano, Fastav Zlin
(Plus Sevilla, Hoffenheim, Liverpool, Napoli and Sporting, that already secured the ELGS, but can still go to the CLGS instead if they survive the CL playoff)

With fewer (none at all?) direct spots and more spots available for the qualifiers, the qualifiers wouldn’t have to start so early (good for everybody involved), and (several of) these unworthy directly qualified teams probably wouldn’t even make it to the group stages (also good for everybody else except themselves).

Anyone has a different opinion, that these 16 (21?) teams deserve this privilege of direct qualfication?
Or, case-by-case, which ones do and which ones don’t?
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Posmatrač
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Post by Posmatrač »

Some teams from bigger leagues should start in 4.Q round.
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Post by FrancoisD »

The direct qualification of Top12 Cup winners (or next in league if cup is won by CL qualified) is OK for me. It promotes national cup.
The direct qualification of Top4 N5/6 is probably only a way to get better TV contracts, and I think it's unnecessary (CW presence should be enough even in Top 4 to sell EL TV deals), but it may help to not have those clubs in Q4.
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Post by Forza AZ »

Dragonite wrote:Here’s the list: Villarreal, Real Sociedad, FC Koln, Hertha Berlin, Arsenal, Atalanta, Lazio, Vitória Guimarães, Lyon, Lokomotiv Moscow, Zorya, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse, Konyaspor, Lugano, Fastav Zlin
Clubs in bold did win a trophy last season, the national Cup. Which can't be said about a lot of other teams. So it's good that is rewarded with a groupstage spot.
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Post by Dragonite »

Do you think it’s fair that Ajax, the EL beaten finalist, may not even return to next season’s EL edition, while Vitesse is already certain to play it?

Vitesse is nothing more than a parasite to me.
Put them in the qualifiers, and they won’t even make it to the groups.

It’s because of the points collected by Ajax that Vitesse now has this benefit.

While Ajax may be eliminated in the CLQR3 (like last year against Rostov or two years ago against Rapid Wien) and then again in ELQR4 (like ten years ago when after losing against Slavia Prague in the CL qualifiers they lost again in the UEFA Cup pre-group stage round against Dinamo Zagreb) and don’t even reach the stage where Vitesse is already in.


Rewarding Vitesse with the opportunity to play the EL group stages iff they advanced a couple more qualifying rounds (let’s call it quality control) would be more than enough.
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Post by Gorandinho »

Vitesse won a competition, Ajax won nothing at all.
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Post by FrancoisD »

Vitesse Arnhem qualified by eliminating Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ in the national cup (and three minnows).
The fact that national cup qualifies to GS for Top 12 countries is known at the beginning of that competition. Ajax lost against a second division in the cup. You tend to disregard national competition, others don't. I suppose that's a topic we will have to agree we disagree...
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Post by mieszambeton »

I agree its stupid.
Best example Czech Rep. Champion must pass a round as unsedeed to reach GS while cup winner is qualified.
in case Slavia won the cup, they would still need to pass one round while Czech 3rd would qualify for GS.
Last edited by mieszambeton on Tue Jun 06, 2017 13:37, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mieszambeton »

FrancoisD wrote:Vitesse Arnhem qualified by eliminating Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ in the national cup (and three minnows).
The fact that national cup qualifies to GS for Top 12 countries is known at the beginning of that competition. Ajax lost against a second division in the cup. You tend to disregard national competition, others don't. I suppose that's a topic we will have to agree we disagree...
If Ajax won the cup they wouldnt be qualified for GS. And this is nonsense
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Post by Gorandinho »

mieszambeton wrote:I agree its stupid.
Best example Czech Rep. Champion must pass a round as unsedeed to reach GS while cup winner is qualified.
in case Slavia won the cup, they would still need to pass one round while Czech 3rd would qualify for GS.
Zulte Waregem won the cup, which is played before the play offs in Belgium. So they knew they should not finsh in second place no matter what. 6th place was better than finishing second for them. Terrible situation.
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Post by Dragonite »

Arka Gdynia also won a competition.
The only reason why Vitesse’s cup is enough for an ELGS spot and Arka Gdynia’s isn’t is that Vitesse’s neighbours collected more points.

Arka Gdynia is punished because Legia, Lech, Wisla, etc. haven’t collected enough points, while Vitesse is rewarded because Ajax, PSV, AZ, etc. did.

UEFA is putting an end to this parasitism (country bonus removed from club coefficient, revenue distribution based on club performance instead of just nationality…) but clearly there is still some work to be done.


Ajax won a group with Celta, Standard Liège and Panathinaikos, then eliminated Legia Warsaw, FC Copenhagen, Schalke 04 and Lyon.
You call this “nothing at all”; I say this “nothing at all” counts for 50+ of Vitesse’s cups.


With 5 Ajaxes, maybe Holland would have one day 4 group stage direct spots. With 5 Vitesses they would have none. :roll:
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Post by FrancoisD »

Gorandinho wrote:
mieszambeton wrote:I agree its stupid.
Best example Czech Rep. Champion must pass a round as unsedeed to reach GS while cup winner is qualified.
in case Slavia won the cup, they would still need to pass one round while Czech 3rd would qualify for GS.
Zulte Waregem won the cup, which is played before the play offs in Belgium. So they knew they should not finsh in second place no matter what. 6th place was better than finishing second for them. Terrible situation.
Do you really find EL GS more attractive than CL QR3 ?
You trade the direct qualification for a chance to play in a far more rewarding GS, and a good chance to still play in EL GS if you fail only once in two rounds. I think it's fair.
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Post by FrancoisD »

Dragonite wrote:Arka Gdynia also won a competition.
The only reason why Vitesse’s cup is enough for an ELGS spot and Arka Gdynia’s isn’t is that Vitesse’s neighbours collected more points.
You call them neighbours, I call them competitors. The national cup is not a random draw between neighbours, it's a competition. UEFA considers winning the cup in "top" countries to be harder, thus allowing to enter EL in later rounds. Good luck trying to convince anybody that Andorre's cup winner should enter the same QR than Spain.

I however join you in expecting UEFA to slowly continue to promote its own competition as a mean to qualify to following year competition, not only for winner, but also for losing finalist, even for semi-finalists. But that's a move that may not be easily accepted by FAs.
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