European League Round-Up (Part 3)

We're back once again exploring all four footballing corners of Europe, asking various countries the simple question "How did it go last season?" If we get the answer back "We haven't finished yet", we follow up with the secondary question "How's it going this season?"

Here's a round-up of our findings...


ROMANIA

Champions of Romania 2007 are Dinamo Bucharest who finished six points ahead of previous title holders Steaua Bucharest. Both teams won 14 out of their 17 home games, but Steaua were less convincing away from home so they enter next season's Champions League in the second qualifying round while Dinamo join the action a round later.

Rapid Bucharest won the Romanian Cup for a second successive year after a 1-0 win in the Final against Politehnica Timişoara. The win, along with a fourth place finish in the league, gains them entry to the UEFA Cup next season along with CFR Cluj who finished third.

Oţelul Galaţi and Gloria Bistriţa (finishing fifth and sixth respectively) earned their place in the Intertoto Cup and will be in action this Saturday when the Second Round of the competition takes place. Both teams travel away for the first leg of their ties - Gloria taking on a tough Maccabi Haifa side while Oţelul go to Bosnia & Herzegovina to play Slavija.

At the other end of the achievement scale are Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ, Argeş, Naţional and Jiul Petroşani who all finished in the bottom four of Liga I and are duly relegated. Taking their place will be Delta Tulcea and Gloria Buzău - Liga II winners and runners-up respectively.

Top goalscorer in the Romanian top flight this season was Claudiu Niculescu of Dinamo Bucharest with 18 goals. He finished two goals ahead of Ionel Ganea of Rapid Steaua Bucharest on 16.

SWEDEN

Things kicked off in the land of the Volvo back in April as far as the 2007 season's concerned, and leading the way so far are Kalmar, level on points with last season's champions Elfsborg but two goals ahead on goal difference. Elfsborg, however, have a game in hand on the leaders.

The chasing pack aren't far away and are lead by Halmstads in third on 21 points, followed by Djurgardens on 20, Malmo on 19 and Hammarby on 18 points. Bringing up the rear are Brommapojkarna with nine points from a possible 36.

Kalmar's next opponents are Hammarby at home next Wednesday while Elfsborg have an easier tie away to 10th-place AIK on Monday. Malmo travel to Djurgardens in a battle of 5th versus 4th on Saturday while Halmstads travel to struggling Orebro the following day.

Last year's Swedish Cup winners Helsingborgs were knocked out of the 2007 edition last week when they suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to 2nd-tier Landskrona in Round 4. That leaves the smart money to go on Kalmar or Halmstads as the biggest teams remaining when the last eight do battle next month.

Finally, at the top of the goalscoring tree back in the Allsvenskan is Marcus Berg of Gothenburg on eight goals, closely followed by Anders Svensson of Elfsborg and Kalmar's Brazilian César Sántin, both of whom have six goals.

SWITZERLAND

You've gotta love Switzerland. They're a harmless little country whose top football division contains just ten teams - none of whom have made an impact recently on the international stage - and they call it the 'Super League'. How's that for ambition!

And who was the superest of all that's super in the Super League this season? Why that's Zurich of course, edging out Basel by a single point. Sion were third, a full fourteen points further behind on 60 with Young Boys taking fourth on 59.

Zurich's prize is a place in the second qualifying round of the Champions League 2007/08 while Basel and Sion have the consolation of playing in next season's UEFA Cup. Young Boys take their place in the first qualifying round of the same competition.

At the bottom, Schaffhausen were relegated with 25 points, one less than Aarau who entered a play-off with Bellinzona who finished second in the Challenge League behind champions Neuchatel Xamax. After a two-legged match, Aarau kept their place in the Super League thanks to a 5-2 aggregate victory.

Top goalscorer this season was Mladen Petrić with 19 for Swiss Cup winners Basel, three ahead of St. Gallen's Argentinian star Francisco Aguirre who in turn was two goals ahead of Brazilian Rafael of Zurich.

European League Round-Up (Part 2)

We continue our journey around the lesser highlighted leagues of Europe to find out what's happened and what's happening at club level. First stop:

GREECE

The very first Greek Super League effectively came to an end back in April when Olympiakos had accumulated enough points not to be caught by eventual runners-up AEK Athens. The gap was nine points when the season ended in May, so Olympiakos enter the group stage of the Champions League next season while AEK start from the third qualifying round.

Panathinaikos, Aris and Panionios finished in the next three league places so they qualify for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup and they'll be joined by AE Larissa who won the Greek Cup with a 2-1 win over Panathinaikos.

Taking their place in the Intertoto Cup will be OFI Crete who finished 7th in the league, but at the wrong end of the table Kerkira, Aigaleo and Ionikos all finished in the bottom three. Their places next season will be taken by Asteras Tripolis, Levadiakos and Veria who come up from B' Ethniki.

Finally, many people expected Olympiakos' star signing Rivaldo to be this season's top goalscorer, but with 17 goals he finished one short of the total gained by Nikos Lyberopoulos of AEK Athens.

NETHERLANDS

PSV seemed to be coasting to another Eredivisie title during the first half of the 2006/07 season and were eleven points clear of the chasing pack after 20 games, but they took their foot off the gas and allowed AZ and Ajax to make a challenge. Such was PSV's fall from grace that when the final game of the season arrived, they, along with AZ and PSV were level on points - PSV now third in the table on goal difference.

Amazingly, leaders AZ lost 3-2 to Exelcsior Rotterdam, while PSV's 5-1 win over Vitesse gave them the goal advantage to leap over Ajax (who won 2-0 in their last match) and AZ to reclaim top spot and win the title.

All that means PSV enter the Champions League next season for the third time running while runners-up Ajax get the chance to enter via the third qualifying round. AZ, FC Twente, Griningen and Heerenveen will all play UEFA Cup football in 2007/08. FC Utrecht won their play-off for an Intertoto Cup spot, denying Vitesse while at the bottom, Den Haag were relegated automatically to the Eerste Divisie. Going down via the play-offs were Waalwijk and replacing them were De Graafschap (Eerste Divisie champions) and VVV Venlo.

This season's top goalscorer in the Eredivisie by twelve clear goals was Afonso Alves, the Brazilian playing for Heerenveen. His 34 goals easily eclipsed Danny Koevermans (AZ) and Blaise N'Kufo (FC Twente) who both finished the season with twenty-two.

NORWAY

The Tippeligaen (Premier Division) is currently in full swing and leading the way after 12 games is Stabæk on 25 points, followed by Brann on 23 and Lillestrøm and Viking on 21.

Stabæk went top at the weekend with a 1-0 away win over Tromso while Brann lost their place at the top after losing 3-1 away to Viking. Lillestrøm stayed in the top four with a 1-0 win over IK Start.

In the battle of the bottom two, Odd Grenland beat Sandefjord 4-0 at home to leave their opponents propping up the table on just nine points. Next up for Sandefjord is a tough home game against Lillestrøm next Sunday. Leaders Stabæk play sixth-place Stromsgodset while Brann host Tromso and Viking travel to Valerenga.

PORTUGAL

A close three-horse race resulted in Porto taking a second successive league title by one point ahead of Cup of Portugal winners Sporting Lisbon, who in turn finished one point ahead of third-placed Benfica.

Porto and Sporting go straight through to the group stages of the Champions League next season while Benfica will have to get their via the qualifying round.

Some seventeen points behind the Benfica were Sporting Braga on 50 points, closely followed by Belenenses and Paços de Ferreira. All three qualify for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.

União de Leiria enter the Intertoto Cup while for Beira-Mar and Desportivo das Aves the Liga de Honra awaits after they finished in the bottom two places of the new 16-team BWIN Liga.

The top goalscorers were anything but prolific this season with Simão Sabrosa of Benfica heading the field on 10 goals. Hélder Postiga of Porto finished as runner-up with nine goals while José Pedro of Belenenses was one behind on eight.

European League Round-Up (Part 1)

Here at Some People Are On The Pitch, we like to think that everyone deserves a few minutes in the spotlight and our round-up of what's going on around Europe is no exception.

So here's part one of our check to see what happened or is happening in those countries where the words 'Cristiano' and 'Ronaldo' are about as important as Elton John's comb and shampoo.

AUSTRIA

The T-Mobile Bundesliga season ended on May 20th with Red Bull Salzburg romping home to a 19-point victory over SV Ried. Giovanni Trapattoni's side had actually sewn up the championship with five games remaining, such was their grip on the ten-team league, so they now take their place in the second qualifying round of next season's Champions League.

SV Ried and SV Mattersburg finished second and third in the Austrian Bundesliga so they'll go into the hat for the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, while Rapid Vienna in fourth enter the Intertoto Cup. Austria Vienna were the Austrian Cup winners this season, so they'll be in the first qualifying round for next season's UEFA Cup, while at the other end of the table Grazer accumulated just six points from a possible 108 and were duly relegated. They'll be replaced next season by LASK Linz who won the Red Zak Erste Liga.

Top scorer for the season was German Alexander Zickler of Red Bull Salzburg with 22 goals, eight ahead of runner-up Leonardo Da Silva, the Brazilian playing for SC Rheindorf Altach.

BELGIUM

Anderlecht were crowned Jupiler League champions for the second successive season on May 19th, but they ended up finishing only five points ahead of runners-up Genk. Both teams enter next season's Champions League - Anderlecht in the third qualifying round, Genk in the second.

Standard Liege finished third and qualify for a place in the UEFA Cup next season while Gent snatched a place in the Intertoto Cup ahead of Charleroi in fifth by virtue of having won more games.

Club Brugge (Belgian Cup winners) and Zulte Waregem - competitors in this season's UEFA Cup - both missed out on a European spot, while at the bottom Lierse dramatically avoided automatic relegation on the last day of the season, climbing above Beveren to send them down.

Lierse, finishing 17th out of the eighteen teams, then entered a four-team play off group with Royal Antwerp, Mechelen and Kortrijk but could only finish second to Mechelen. Lierse therefore drop into the Second Division while Mechelen join champions Verbroedering Dender in the Jupiler League for 2007/08.

Top goalscorer this season was François Sterchele of Germinal Beerschot with 21 goals, one ahead of Patrick Ogunsoto of Westerlo and Mohammed Tchité of Anderlecht.

DENMARK

It was business as usual for Copenhagen as they won their second league title on-the-trot, seven points clear of second-placed Midtjylland. Copenhagen go into the second qualifying round of next year's Champions League while Midtjylland enter the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

Aalborg were third, thereby securing a place in the second round of the Intertoto Cup 2007/08 but Brondby, who this season took part in the Champions League, miss out by finishing sixth.

Relegated this time around were Vejle and Silkeborg who will next season be replaced by Lyngby and Aarhus, promoted as champions and runners-up respectively of the Danish First Division.

Top of the goalscoring tree in the Danish Superliga this season was Rade Prica of Aalborg with 19 goals. The Swede got one more than Morten Nordstrand of Nordsjælland who finished second.

FINLAND

The Finns league season started in April and runs until October, so the Veikkausliiga is still going on as we speak. At the moment, defending champions Tampere United lead the table with six wins and a draw from their first eight games. FC Haka are three points behind on sixteen and Turun Palloseura are two points further behind in third.

Currently lying fourteenth and last are local rivals Vaasan Palloseura who are yet to pick up a point from their opening seven games while last year's promoted teams, FC Viikingit and AC Oulu have both made a steady start, occupying mid-table positions as things stand.

SPAOTP's favourite Finnish team ever, FC KooTeePee, are struggling a little at present. They lost their last game 2-1 at home to FC Haka and are in eleventh position with just seven points from a possible twenty-one. Next up for them is (what should be) an easier match at home to VPS Vaasa, currently next to bottom, on Thursday.

More updates from all four corners of Europe very soon...

Only as good as your last game?

Some say football's gone a bit stale, that it needs a bit of excitement injected into it. The same old teams winning, the usual suspects doing badly and ending up on the scrapheap.

What are we to do? Maybe we could wait and see what Michel Platini will introduce to the game as the new head of UEFA? Easier still, wait ten minutes to see what brainstorm Sepp Blatter comes up with - he's always good for a laugh.

No, it's no good. What we need is a radical new system to change the way the game's played in order to liven things up a bit, and I think I have the answer.

To be fair, it's not really a new idea as it's something I remember from my childhood, but it's certainly worth considering. (Well it is if you want a bit of fun.)

It's called the Ladder League system and here's how it works. Let's say on a hypothetical Saturday afternoon, there's a match between Newcastle (sitting in 10th place in the Premiership) and Fulham (in 16th). Joy of joys, Fulham end up winning the match, but instead of awarding them three points as is currently the case, you make them swap places in the league - Fulham taking 10th spot and Newcastle dropping to 16th. If it had been a draw, they'd stay where they are.

OK, so it's not the fairest system in the world, but let's take another look at it. Imagine if Man United - top of the league - were playing Watford - propping up the table at the bottom. In one fell swoop, Aidy Boothroyd could see his team top the league by putting in one incredible performance to beat Sir Alex Ferguson's lot. Watford would never have more motivation to play well and Man United would have no option but to play well for fear of ending up bottom of the table.

Of course it's not a complete win-win situation. For the team higher up in the table, they'd be purely playing to avoid defeat so they can stay in the same position after the match. Defensive performances could be commonplace, but imagine what it'd be like on the last day of the season. Your team could end up - almost by random - playing another in the bottom three. Your team could be relegated when everything seemed safe the week before. Conversely, your team could end up winning the title or qualifying for Europe when previously there was no such hope. The atmosphere at that final game would be unbelievable.

You see - it seemed like a churlish suggestion earlier, but you must be thinking it's an idea that's got some legs now, aren't you? And if you're wondering how the Premiership would be looking at the present time if such a system had been implemented this season, here's the answer:

1 Liverpool
2 Charlton
3 Chelsea
4 Middlesbrough
5 Bolton
6 Arsenal
7 Watford
8 Reading
9 Everton
10 Man City
11 Man United
12 Aston Villa
13 Wigan
14 Sheff United
15 Fulham
16 Newcastle
17 Portsmouth
18 Blackburn
19 Tottenham
20 West Ham

Obviously the season hasn't finished yet, but you can see that some of the positions are looking about right already. Chelsea are near the top, West Ham are near the bottom... not such a flight of fantasy, eh?

Right, that's that then. A system that guarantees excitment in spades, extreme highs and lows - everything a fan could want. Somebody get me Sepp Blatter's e-mail address, please...