UEFA Champions League (2 Viewers)

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UGASaintsFan said:
Do any of you have a good website to go to figure out how all the leagues over there interact. I like watching soccer, but aside from National teams, I can never figure out what I am watching, Champions league versus Premier, etc. Thanks in advance.
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http://www.theoffside.com/

Basically a consortium of soccer writers (bloggers) for almost every significant league/club in Europe, North and South America. Also do some coverage of Africa, Asia, and Australia.

The stories are well organized by country, league, club, different competitions, etc... Not the place for stats and rosters though.
 
UGASaintsFan said:
Do any of you have a good website to go to figure out how all the leagues over there interact. I like watching soccer, but aside from National teams, I can never figure out what I am watching, Champions league versus Premier, etc. Thanks in advance.
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I don't know of a site that explains all the interplay, but I just kept looking up the various cups and leagues on wiki.

Here's what I understand about it:
Each nation has their own leagues. There are usually different levels or divisions- with a top level league and then lower leauges. England for instance has the Premier League- which is the top 20 teams and they play each other once (home and away) for a total of 38 games. Three points to win, one point to draw - and the league champion is the team with the most points at the end; no playoffs. Then there are the "under" leagues or divisions. (In England the next league down is the CocaCola Championship not to be confused with the UEFA Champions League - which is what people refer to when they say "Champions League" as explained below). But in all there are more than 400 football clubs in the English Football Association (FA), throughout the various leagues and divisions. Unlike in the U.S., a club can win and play up to a higher league, and likewise, a nonperforming team can be "relegated" to a lower league. That's pretty cool and happens every year. I think the bottom 3 teams in the Premier League are relegated each year. Also, within the clubs in English football, there are tournaments each year for different cups that each have their own history. One is the "league cup" (Carling Cup) and another is the FA Cup. These are tournament style competitions that intersperse with the club's regular league schedule (a match doesn't count for both though- so for instance, Man U. might play Tottenham in Round 4 of the FA Cup tournament and then play the same team again the next week in its Premier League schedule). One cool thing about the cup tourneys is that a lower rated club can put together some wins and theoretically could end up in the Cup final, with all the prestige and money that comes with it. (Sort of like George Mason going to the Final Four).

It is my understanding that most of the countries are set up this way. There's the Bundesliga in Germany but also lower division leagues, La Liga in Spain, and in Italy there's Serie A (top leauge, but also Serie B is the next league down). So that's how it goes.

Then there's the inter-league play. The UEFA is the Union of European Football Associations, which has tournament style play every year to award cups/championships to the winners of its two major tournaments that are drawn from qualifiers across the member leagues (which include the leagues from the nations of Europe).

The Champions League is the top UEFA class. It is made up of the top teams from the leagues in Europe, but the leagues have different rankings, which correspond to how many entries they get into the Champions League. Sometimes there are "play-in" style matches to set the field- and it gets relatively complicated. But in general, it allows for the top teams in various leagues to compete against each other for what is basically crowned as the champion of Europe. But again, these fixtures are apart from the club's regular league schedule and schedule with other cup tournaments going on. For instance, as of this Saturday, Chelsea would have played the Carling Cup Final versus Tottenham, a Premiere League match versus West Ham, a Champion's League match versus Olympiacos and an FA Cup match versus Barnsley all within a 14 or 15 day stretch (I think). So conditioning and depth of the squad is a big factor during these runs (for the top clubs).

The UEFA also holds the UEFA Cup tournament, which is sort of a next class down from the Champions League, but a tournament for qualifying clubs across the member leagues of Europe. Champions League clubs don't participate, and the various leagues have methods to set their entries. But for instance, the 6th place Premier League club will likely play due to the top 4 clubs being in the Champions League. The UEFA tournaments also run throughout the season and result in a final match, crowning the victor.

That's my understanding of it from a basic viewpoint. Someone else might have better info, or a website. FoxSoccer.com is pretty good.
 
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wow-
LIVERPOOL, England -- Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have rejected Dubai International Capital's bid for the Premier League club, The Associated Press has learned.

The $800 million offer was immediately turned down, a person involved with the negotiations told the AP. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

DIC on Tuesday gave the Americans 24 hours to accept its offer.

Hicks is committed to retaining his 50 percent share in Liverpool while Gillett is reportedly willing to sell. Hicks has said he can block Gillett from selling his stake.

The duo bought the club last year for $431 million -- beating a rival bid from the Dubai consortium.
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http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=513417&cc=5901
 
Wow- big day for the Gunners in Milan! I bet the travelling fans are going nuts.
 
Great win for United.
Too bad Celtic couldn't produce any more heriocs. They're pretty much out of it now. Arsenal just scored again, so they'll win too.
 
Kaka really should have passed the ball more often. All that talent and he thinks he can do it all himself when you have all those other extremely talented guys that wear your colors too.

I may have to go to my local Italian deli and see how upset they are. I know quite a few Milan fans tht work there.

BTW, thanks to Fabregas for proving my point about taking shots well outside the box.
 
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Yeah, too bad for Celtic. That was a tough draw but they showed up at least.

But the Arsenal 2-0 win at Milan is pretty shocking, especially the way Arsenal has looked in the last few. I have two friends who are big Arsenal fans but I can't talk to them b/c they taped the match.
 
Not strictly Champions League related :)hihi:) but I'm absolutely buzzing after we equalised in the 94th minute, points are precious at the minute, we're in a relegation battle so a draw away to a playoff chasing team is a good result.
 
So I went to the pub near my office where I watched CL games before and they had the Yankees on all tvs. Spring baseball??

I asked what was up and they said there were people watching it.

So I took off for a more reliable joint and got there just in time for Chelsea's first goal- a sweet Ballack header.
 
The draw was rigged, apparantly. Look at this thread from a Liverpool forum posted 1hr and a half before the draw began.
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: Possible leak of draw
Rumour going around draw has been leaked..... this is no doubt rubbish but if Rumour is true it's LFC - arsenal and Chelsea - fenerbache and manure v roma
No bookies will take bets on the draw either.......
Let the draw commence. Comeeee on!

A very good guess, or a UEFA scandal?
 

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