2022/2023 Conference League final phase

[Jackson Harrison]

Antonio pokes home on the rebound on a corner, 2-1!

Deserved it #post1100

[mavano]

Deserved win for West Ham. They dominated the last 30 minutes and could've scored more. AZ failed to take advantage of the momentum in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half. West Ham looked lost and the crowd turned on the team but AZ seemed too content just possessing the ball. And then they gave away a cheap penalty...

Still all to play for next week.

[Lorric]

Yeah, that ball is clearly still in play when the keeper connects with Bowen.

[Juliusz]

First legs attendances

West Ham - AZ Alkmaar 59,412
Fiorentina - Basel 34,276

[Firnen]

Basel somehow continued their mad European run. It's insane for me how the same club can be so poor in a mediocre league like Switzerland (Basel is 5th behind Luzern, Lugano and Servette!) and challenge for the ECL Final!

@hertolo and @Lorric I have nothing against Basel (I just mentioned they are sometimes lucky in Europe which is true), it's just super strange for me. If they play a big league team in the Final (West Ham), I'm with Basel, if they play AZ, I'm neutral

AZ didn't hold the good result unfortunately, but they have their hopes for the return leg.

[Lorric]

Basel somehow continued their mad European run. It's insane for me how the same club can be so poor in a mediocre league like Switzerland (Basel is 5th behind Luzern, Lugano and Servette!) and challenge for the ECL Final!

@hertolo and @Lorric I have nothing against Basel (I just mentioned they are sometimes lucky in Europe which is true), it's just super strange for me. If they play a big league team in the Final (West Ham), I'm with Basel, if they play AZ, I'm neutral

AZ didn't hold the good result unfortunately, but they have their hopes for the return leg.

I always knew that. I am just amused by your increasingly incredulous reactions to Basel's run through Europe.

[bugylibicska]

AZ Alkmaar v West Ham 2.62 3.10 2.50
Basel v Fiorentina 4.00 3.60 1.75

Outright:

West Ham 2.00
Basel, Fiorentina 4.33
AZ Alkmaar 5.50

[hertolo]

Odds sound avout right.

And yeah, I was just teasing. And you are right, we are two-faced, especially this year and it's getting annoying. But what can you do? Sacrifice European Games intentionally? Missing Europe from the start could be good for us, but most probably we will have to do three rounds of qualifications again. But for now, lets defend our lead in a btw already sold out Joggeli-Stadium.

[mieszambeton]

Interesting that ECL final is planned for 29/5
Also on 29/5 is Swiss league last matchday where Basel is meeting Grasshoppers, probably their rival for last ECL league spot
I see also that today they fieleded 15y player

[Forza AZ]

Interesting that ECL final is planned for 29/5
Also on 29/5 is Swiss league last matchday where Basel is meeting Grasshoppers, probably their rival for last ECL league spot
I see also that today they fieleded 15y player

ECL final is on 7 June.

In 2024 it in on 29 May.

[hertolo]

Interesting that ECL final is planned for 29/5
Also on 29/5 is Swiss league last matchday where Basel is meeting Grasshoppers, probably their rival for last ECL league spot
I see also that today they fieleded 15y player

The final is a week later

And yes, we had to field a 15y old and subsitute a 16y old in. The reasoning is on one hand the absurd number of matches Basel played (57 at the moment, 5-6 more to come), but with that big a pause due to the world cup, that sounds more like an excuse. In reality, there are a few injuries in defense and the last game against Zurich got out of hand totally with 4 red cards or so. And that's why we had not central defenders left and a 15y old had to start. Also, the other central defender was an older central midfield who had already filled in the defense before but also just got back from an injury.

So, not only did we start with a 15y old at the center back, there was also a 19y old age gap between him and his colleague just to the side. But since red cards of the league are not valid in international games, we will have a more experienced defense against Fiorentina. Still, we stay two-faced

[Club-Mate]

I wish FC Basel good luck to reach ECL Final!
I am following this club for years it was always a good landmark to compare them with our champions in AUT Bundesliga quality wise and in size of the club. 5 - 10 yrs ago football enthusiasts in our country asked what the Swiss Champion is doing better than ours - they were CL regular with a budget of about RB Salzburg. I am following as well their financials every year. FCB was able to create incomes of about 100 mio CHF still in 2018 and reported good profits at this time. But that has changed drastically. Income plunged by about 40% to 60 mio combined with a loss of 14 mio in 2021. The reasons are diverse: pandemic, the decline of transfer incomes (always an important income item of clubs like FCB) and no more CL appearances at all. But this could change sooner or later. As fast as YB superceded FCB as champion as fast this could reverse. And with all the points gained in ECL over the years it will be possible the get this free CL spot as the best club out of top 10 nations. Their competitors could be RBS, Shaktar... and by then FC Basel would have collected enough points to get this desired CL spot and FCB could return quick to their former importance in European Football.

[rpo.castro]

I wish FC Basel good luck to reach ECL Final!
I am following this club for years it was always a good landmark to compare them with our champions in AUT Bundesliga quality wise and in size of the club. 5 - 10 yrs ago football enthusiasts in our country asked what the Swiss Champion is doing better than ours - they were CL regular with a budget of about RB Salzburg. I am following as well their financials every year. FCB was able to create incomes of about 100 mio CHF still in 2018 and reported good profits at this time. But that has changed drastically. Income plunged by about 40% to 60 mio combined with a loss of 14 mio in 2021. The reasons are diverse: pandemic, the decline of transfer incomes (always an important income item of clubs like FCB) and no more CL appearances at all. But this could change sooner or later. As fast as YB superceded FCB as champion as fast this could reverse. And with all the points gained in ECL over the years it will be possible the get this free CL spot as the best club out of top 10 nations. Their competitors could be RBS, Shaktar... and by then FC Basel would have collected enough points to get this desired CL spot and FCB could return quick to their former importance in European Football.

The decrease of income wasn't directly related with the end of Novartis sponsorship?

[bjkman1903]

Well I hope that Fiorentina finally put an end to Basel's crazy run in this competition.

Fiorentina did much better away so far (0-4 at Braga, 1-4 at Sivas & Lech) so hopefully this trend continues in Switzerland.

Otherwise, Switzerland will pass Turkey in the country ranking.

[amenina]

Well I hope that Fiorentina finally put an end to Basel's crazy run in this competition.

Fiorentina did much better away so far (0-4 at Braga, 1-4 at Sivas & Lech) so hopefully this trend continues in Switzerland.

Otherwise, Switzerland will pass Turkey in the country ranking.

If Basel lose by 1 goal in the 2nd leg and then win on penalties to reach the final, then lose the final either after 90 minutes or extra time, then Turkey is still ranked 12th ahead of Switzerland.