additional to Bert's Uefa page
02-07-07: I should start the new page I guess as the current info is about the new season. What I changed was teh UefaCup qualification page to adjust to the regional groupings the Uefa has decided to. some strange decisions, but the Oracle (sorry for the job-related joke) has spoken. The first round intertoto has finished, some surprises, but the coefficient-related surprises will only come at the qualification round.
18-06-07: And all the leagues have finished this year. A sensational ending in the Spanish competition! Next weekend is already the first round of the intertoto of the next season. O, how time flies. I got to start working on my sheet for next year. I have more time as expected this summer due to a reorg taking place, but in IT lots of work is available. I don't know yet of this site is a pro or con to find the right job.... :)
11-06-07: I have updated the Spanish and Ukrainian competition. Congratulations to Dynamo Kiew. There is now still 1 to go. Wher barca thought they had it, all changed in the last 2 minutes. Madrid scored and barca got one against them. Now it is still Mardrid at the top. (UN)fortunate Sevilla did not manage to profit from this.
All Intertoto clubs are confirmed, except the Spanish one, but they will have an exception, and they don't start in 2 weeks (!) already.
04-06-07: I forgot to mention it. I have updated yesterday all my sheets. Anybody who is interested in the almost final overview can have a look. It is as good as the same as Berts, just a few changs in Geographically groupings, which is not mathematical correct on my site.
I also noticed I have a link to Intertoto '06 instead of '07. And I am updating the Intertotsheet everytime and it appears its not available, hmm. I haven't paid a lot of attention yet to teams being confirmed or not, so don't mind the bolding too much.
29-05-07: Vacation is so good. Actualy it's too hot. Amazing for the time of year. I included all latest results. Slavia made it the CL, Young Boys to UC, Liberec went from 1 pt champion to IC. Willy also showed me that I still had Shelbourne as Irish CL participant. I changed it to Derry.
Now we will have to wait 2 weeks of national team play to get to the finish of the Spanish League. Not much further to decide, just the Spanish and Ukrainian UC and IC teams. Montenegro plays tomorrow the final to decied the other orange part in the domestic league overview. We are about ready. Ready for next year: let it come!
27-05-07: And more of todays results: Ajax made it to the CL, Pobeda made Macedonian champion, and so we almost got all participants known. In my domestic league view I only see some orange because the leagues in Spain and Ukraine and Czech(tomorrow last MD) still continue and Montenegro still need their Cupfinal to be played(this Wednesday)
27-05-07: I have tried to change the Domestic league overview and CL site manualy, to have a better overview. UC sheet is NOT updated, due to lack of automatic calculations :(
26-05-07: Unfortunately I have forgotten my USB key at home, where I only will return in a week. So no updates possible, sorry.
Though Toulouse has become 3rd in the French league and therefor Levski will be seeded in CL-Q3 and will go to pot D, replacing Lens there. In Poland Zaglebie won the title, in Montenegro Zeta as is already in the CL-sheet. Also it finally go through to SW that Serajevo is champion of Bosnia.
In Spain Valencia is after tonights loss really out of the title race and become CL-Q3. Real Madrid stays on top after their win Barca is following(lead 1-0 at Halftime)
3 decisions to fall:
Overview
Macedonia: 1MD 27/5 Pobeda 2 pts ahead of Rabotnicki
Netherlands(2nd team): 27/5 2nd leg Play-off final. First leg:AZ-Ajax 2-1
Czech(2nd team): 1MD 28/5 Liberec 3 pts ahead of Slavia and M.Boleslav
BosniaHerz: FK Serajevo
Montenegro: Zeta
San Marino: Murata(surprisingly, Libertas in UC, Tre Fiori: nothing)
Azerbaijan: Khazar Lankaran
Poland: Zaglebie L
Switzerland: Zurich
France(3rd team): Toulouse
Romania(2nd team): Steaua
26-05-07: repair of Salzburg&Litex coefficient
25-05-07: Updated with Swiss champion
24-05-07: We know now the champions of Azerbaijan and the second spot in Romania. That leaves 9 spots open....:
today Switzerland, tomorrow San Marino, Saturday Montenegro, Poland & France, Sunday Macedonia & Netherlands, Monday Czech and then we will have to wait another week for Bosnia the fill the last hole.
22-05-07: After the Czech had their matchday we can fillin Sparta Prague as CL-participant, starting in Q3 if they keep their 1 point advantage over Liberec in the last matchday, or Q2 when they lose it. M. Bolelav might not lost only the title-race yesterday, but due to Sparta'CL participation 4th spot is not good enough for UC (just for IC), they might have to start their season early again.....
That leaves us with the following white holes in the CL plan:
Montenegro: 1MD 26/5, Zeta 2 pts ahead of Buducnost P
San Marino: 25/5 Play off final Tre Fiori-Murata
Azerbaijan: 1MD 23/5 Khazar Lankaran 2 pts ahead of Neftchi
Macedonia: 1MD 27/5 Pobeda 2 pts ahead of Rabotnicki
BosniaHerz:1MD 3/6 FK Serajevo 2 pts ahead of Slavija
Poland: 2MD 22/5 & 26/5 GKS Belchatow 2 pts ahead of Zaglebie L
Switzerland: 1MD 24/5 Zurich 1 pt ahead of Basel
Czech(2nd team): 1MD 28/5 Liberec 3 pts ahead of Slavia and M.Boleslav
France(3rd team): 1MD 26/5 Lens equal on points with Bordeaux, 1 pt ahead of Rennes and 3 pt ahead of Socheaux
Romania(2nd team): 1MD 23/5 Steaua 2 pts ahead of CFR Cluj
Netherlands(2nd team): 27/5 2nd leg Play-off final. First leg:AZ-Ajax 2-1
So every day is a decisive day the coming week!
21-05-07: And all weekendresutls are in. Still some white spaces in it. I put the Spanish 4 teams as certain, as I can't believe that the 7 points difference will be canceled in 3 matches. But still lots of decisions are still to be made. Often only 1 match is left: France, Holland, Romania, Czech(2 matchdays), Switzerland, Poland, Bosnia, Macedonia, Azerbajan, Montenegro and San Marino, all waiting for their final representatants to be decided.
19-05-07: Some weekend results are in, some are not yet. Stuttgart and Levski's championship are there. In Poland, Switzerland, Romania the fight for the last available CL spots continue. I still count 17 white spots in my CL sheet. SO it's only a few teams left fighting for these last spots....
15-05-07: I have updated my sheets due to some importantmatches yesterday: Debrecen got Hungarian champion, making Beitar definitely unseeded in CL-Q2. Cluj won their monday match making the fight Steaua-Cluj for the CL-Q3 spot continue(losers gets UC-Q2, quite a difference). And finaly Sparta-Liberec went to a draw, making it extremely close: 3 teams within 2 points with 2 matchdays to go.
14-05-07: And how clsoe can it get! In Spain Barca loses points and gets Madrid asisde, in Germany Schalke loses 1 day before the end their top position, in Portugal Porto loses points-can Sportin g still pass them in the last matchday? In Czech Sparat and Liberec meet today to fight out the championship - or will M.Boleslav get another chance? Besiktas dropped opints in Turkey, Fenerbahce profited and became champion. Galatasaray did not and kept third, though 2 matchdays left...., Zurich and Basel are 1 point apart, Levski Sofia lost half of their 4 points advantage. There are fights for CL and UC all over Europe: In Austria for the second spot, in Poland, Bosnia, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, has it ever been this close on so many places at the same time?
Maybe it was last year, but these are the weeks of decisions. The most exciting of the year. I can't wait till the next match completes (today!)
Oh yes, I moved Poland to the Northern group and Luxembourg to the Central group in my UC-qualification groups, as that has been done for the Intertoto. I also moved Bulgaria back to the Southern group, though this puts FCU Poli as a non seeded team with 13.255 as coefficient. Switching between Southe and Central is only partly useful. The problem list with the Northern group. There are not enough high coefficient teams in there. I moved Andorra to the Central group to get some kind of even numbers...
10-05-07: Midweek resutls are in. Some cupmatches were played and some league matches. I also included the already certain FairPlaywinner from Sweden in the Norhter Q1 round. Everything is getting closer and closer. In France the fight for the CL and UC spots are hard. With maybe the Toulouse-Bordeaux match on the last matchday as a climax. Levski's CLQ3-seeding faith depends on it!
In Czechia Slavia seems to let the other 3 go(Liberec, Sparta and M.Boleslav). Sparta took over the lead
07-05-07: How close are we getting till the end of the season. Slowly all plces in the CL and UC are getting blue/filled. While everybody was expecting a thriller on Wednesday 9 may that would decide the Premiership, Chelsea has been dropping points so Manchester is now already certain of the title. On the other hand in Spain there is still a big fight going on for the first 4 spots. Like in Germany and Czechia a few teams within reach of eachoter. In Ukraine(Dyanmo K) and Turkey(Fenerbahce) it seems decided with nr2 losing last weekend. And also in Poland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro, the domestic league is working to a climax that could very well be only decided on the last matchday!
02-05-07: Finally some new updates are in. I actualy already updated some files last week, but never came to mention it here. At work it's like crazy now and being away for the (long - as it was Queensday in Holland) weekend doesn't give me some time to concentrate. I watched the final in Holland on Tuesday morning 01.00 AM ( at night) completely unaware of what had happened. What a great ending! how Hitchock-like. And ofcourse I am very happy with PSV snapping away the title in the end. Wow!
Back to Europe. There some more decision have fallen. Actualy I had forgotten the semio returns are alsi this week. I read this morning that Liverpool qualified- I forgot about it. Well ManUtd seems to get closer to the title after Chelseas slip, while in Spain it stays incredibly close. In germany too 2 losses made Stutgart get between them, making it all too close to call. In France it's all about the second spot where the close fight is.
I also included the IC draw. selecting the highest coefficient in each draw group. That makes interesting resutls: e.g. Mac. Haifa winning from Racing Santander. let's see if that will happen.
23-04-07: We have some (more) champions. It is that time of the season again. Inter, Lyon, Olympiakos, TNS, congratulations. In Spain and Holland things go to extreme tension, while Chelsea let their chance of making it extremely tight go by. They won't have much chences left now...
16-04-07: latest updates of the domestic leagues. Things are growing to the end. Closer and closer to the championship. APOEL has won it in Cyprus, congratulations. My interest, ofcourse, goes to Holland, where 3 teams are still fighting for the championbship with only 2 matches to go. PSV seems to have found themselves just in time. Finally a win again after 6 weeks of only draws and losses. They have 2 points advantage to defend to AZ and Ajax. And if you are not number 1, 4 more matches are to follow to get the CL-Q3 spot.
Also England and germany look like having a tremendous final weeks. In Romania Steaua must be carefull not to drop 1 more place to be send to Intertoto...
13-04-07: Despite my dislike of these semi's being dominated by 1 country, UC did it like CL, only here Spain is dominating it and not England. AZ had some tough luck (again after last week!) with the referee, and seemed to be over run by Werder. I wonder what would have happened when the referees would have been less on the German side. Maybe it was professional of the german players that they could manipulate the referee, but well in the end it looked deserved.
This domination leeds to very high coefficients for Spain and England, they will never leave the first spots if it continues like this. We'll see. In the prediction (and how much can go wrong with that from now on) Spain gets 18.429. It's ridiculous, not? when countries like Portugal and Holland do well with getting 8 points.
12-04-07: Sorry I let you down lately. It's extremely busy at work at the moment, so I don't really got much time to put into this. I have updated the domestic leagues, but not yet all domestic cups.
02-04-07: Finally some more updates. After some National team matches we are back for the conclusions. Things are getting excited. In Holland PSV lost again points and I don't hope they drop down to the play-offs(on goaldifference?). With everything they are having right now, they might end up outside all European spots and play Intertoto..... While Lyopn lost the League Cup, they gained some extra points in the league, as Lens lost in the competition. Manchester seems also cruising to the title, as Chelsea stumbles their points together. In Germany it also getting a great final... Porto and Benfica drawed and let Sporting get closer, while, to mention another high ranked country, in Romania Dinamo starts to stumble jsut for the end, but keeping 10 points brake, and might Cluj become the second CL participant, while Rapid has to play Intertoto?!
19-03-07: There was a full domestic program, with some topmatches. It might still become intersting in Portugal, where Porto lost from Sporting, and in Holland where PSV lost from Ajax(1-5 ouch!). In Spain and England the top 2 has taken more distant of the next 2, interesting to see that the only Spanish team that still can win the CL is currently 4th, Zaragoza on only 1 point. In Germany it's still very unregular and so very unknown. France seem to be really decided, now Lens lost..
16-03-07: And also the Uefa quarterfinalists are known. This time it's Spain with a large contribution, which are avoiding eachother in the quarterfinals. Spain and England are contributing each 4 teams, taking half of all places. Disappointing is to see that France has left all their teams, there is no challange on 3rd spot. The top-3 is a clear top-3. And Germany has shown again that they, together with France, form the next 2 in the top-5. And Portugal and Netherlands are again the logical next 2 in country ranking. Exceptional performances can bring other countries in the top-7, and that is happening, like with Romania and Russia maybe on a consistent level, but these have not shown yet that they belong consistent in the top-8 (maybe they'll show it next year?)
The UC draw had the same strange ending as the CL draw: with the 4 highest coefficients avoiding eachother and also with teams of the same country avoiding eachother.
As a Dutch I am proud that AZ made it sofar, but also think that they belong there, when they play like they played yesterday. Unfortunatley they sometimes also play like last week. With their Dutch-play-off place secured at the time of the quarterfinal I think they can really concentrate on the UC. On the other hand Bremen will be busy fightin to stay in the top 2/3 of Germany. AZ has their advantage.
First this weekend PSV -Ajax. Either Dutch competition is getting interesting again(though 5 points ahead in 5 matches is still pretty safe) or competition is over (8 points in 5 matches should be the end-not?)
12-03-07: All domestic leagues seem to play again. So some changes overthere. In lots of leagues its getting a better and better fight: In Spain and Germany the top do their best to make it a great end of the competition.
Some teams have problems to concentrate on domestic league after a European week. PSV qualified in CL, but drew only to low qualified Excelsior. They lost Alec in the match - it could be the end of season for him, which also would mean end of season for PSV: without Alex no chance agasint Liverpool, domestically they got to hold on to a 8 points lead in the last 6 matches: next match PSV-Ajax. It will be a crucial game, but without Alex, Kone and possibly Gomes, it will be a tough one...
Coming this week are the returns for the UC - special question for me is, can AZ turn aroud their terrible loss in Newcastle? 2-0 is possibke, but normally they get 1 or 2 goals against them. And they did not score this weekend,...
06-03-07: Sorry for the late message - those who have tried will have noticed I updated the sheets yesterday. I forgot to update my message here.
It's European week again. Last week/time 16 UC teams were out. This week 8 CL-teams play their last match for this season and next week 8 UC teams again. This way we lose a lot of (top-)teams in short time. And among the teams that stay are a lot of favorites to win the titles. More then 2 favorites, but only 2 titles.
02-03-07: No European but domestic cups this week. Barcelona managed to overturn a home loss, Arsenal lost again(3 cup matches in 3 different cups in 1 week!), Lens lost in France, PSV in Holland(both Arsenal and PSV concentrate on CL, but one of them will be out next week. PSV will at least have the league left, Arsenal could be out of everything in 10 days time).
26-02-07: And another weekend of domestic league matches. Slowly more countries get out of hibernation. All are getting closer to the end.
23-02-07: Wow, that was a week full of surprises. First PSV's win, then Liverpools, and then some surprises in the UC, like CSKA being eliminated.
I updated predictiosn for the end of the year. No raical chagnes anymore, though Portugal had a boost with 2 away wins and qualifications. Germany however had an even bigger boost and now are chalaging them again for the 5th spot. Remember however that Porto is expected to win from Chelsea as they have a higher coefficient. I don't think lots ofpeople will put their money however on Porto....
19-02-07: It was a weekend for the nr 1's. In the top 10 competitions almost all nr 1's won and nr 2 drew. Champioships are getting nearer. Though in Spain it's getting tougher in italy and France it seems decided. In England and Germany 1 team is ahead.
This week the CL starts again and the UC already finishes its first round after the winter break. There are this week 46 teams playing (Tottenham already qualified). In less then 3 weeks there are the draws of the quarterfinals with only 16 teams in the pots. A lot will happen in between. I hope a lot of drama. The CL-1/8 finals seem to have clear winners for 6-7 of them. But will we see surprises? Celtic beat ManUtd, Milan is not in their greates form. Arsenal keeps on drawing their matches lately(though also PSV is struggling the last few matches). Also ManUtd is playing inconsistent, while Lille is a dangerous team. And then there are more top teams struggling with their form: Madrid, Bayern, Roma, Lyon, Barca, Liverpool. WHo knows what will come out of that. For me the greatest match will be Inter-Valencia, 2 teams that play great football and are in form. And maybe it will end up in a boring chess-play 0-0.
16-02-07: Wow, it's on again. Werer tehre a lot of surprises? Not really (still I did not good in Lyonnais' game, but that's another story ;))
Spain and France did very well this week, Portugal too. It was a bit disappointing for Romania, they probably lost their chance of getting already 6th this year (Probably they won't be next year either, as they will be 5th). The 'fight' for 8th spot stays alive. Moskou teams were not great, but are not out either, while for Holland Ajax is out, while AZ has big chance of getting true. For 21st spot, Israel is just 1 point away of taking this spot for a 4th team in europe, taking it away from Austria.
I have updated the predictions, but not much yet, most teams still have chance of progressing. I took Feyenoord out and also changed the Bremen-Ajax to a Bremen win(Ajax is the higher coefficient, but I don't see them having a real chance anymore). This caused Holland to drop but stay on 8th. But have a look at teh German/Portugal predictions. There is only a 0.005 difference!
11-02-07: Yes, It's UefaCup week! After 3 weeks of losing points by PSV I am up to some joyous football. Now I will be cheering for Ajax(well, they will lose ofcourse this week) and AZ(the one I count on). Feyenoords dismissal is still a big shock for me. Not that what happened in Nancy is acceptable, no, it was way over the limit, but because I don't know what Feyenoord could have done to prevent it. Well it's done and they would have lost both matches to Tottenham anyway. A pity Platini reacts so harsh on it too.
Still lots of domestic leagues have to wake up still, lots of teams too. I already mentioned PSV, Bremen has had 2 tough matches andlost both. Lyon finally won again and in Barcelona Ronaldinho is back and immediatly they win again! In England it's a 2 horse race and I am looking at how close Bolton (and Reading) still is(are).
I have changed my setup again as it appears that Andorra and San Marino are sending 2 teams into Europe. It means I put the Israelian teams back to Q1 again.
04-02-07: Slowly we are getting closer to the second half of the European season. Still a lot of competitions are hibernating - how will these teams perform after the winterbreak. We can see that this might be difficult. Lyon, Porto, PSV all lost again. Also In Spain Barca, Real and Sevilla all drew or lost. Smaller teams will feel that they can play agasint the odds....
29-01-07: And so Platini has been chosen as the new president of the Uefa. I wonder how much will change due to this election. I gues Uefa is not ruled by a dictator, but some ideas sound promising - having more champions in the champions league - but will be hard to implement. Certainly when you still want to have the best teams every year playing in the CL ;)
First measure has been taken: 3 more champions have been added, the ones from Andorra, San Marino and Montenegro. I already had the teams from Monte Negro included, so I only added 2 to the CL, but for the UC I moved teh Israelian teams back to Q2 again, as the 2 champions left Q1.
In the domestic leagues not much spectaculars happened - Inter continues winning, Lyon is in a (point-)losing spiral, Werder and Schalke take a bit distance, while other leaders Porto and PSV lost. On the other hand is Celtic almost champion. Still a lot of matches to be played.....
22-01-07: Still lots of leagues are in winterbreak, but others already awakened. In England 2 top matches were played. It really looks like there is a top-4 there, others only play for UefaCup. Spain looks like very intersting competition. Italy not. I mean regarding who will win it. Also not is France, Netherlands, Scotland.
Still 3 weeks to go till next round UefaCup. I can't wait. I wonder what will happen with Feyenoord. On one hand I think it is deserved - this kind of Hooliganism can not go unpunished, on the other hand Feyenoord did all they could, warn Nancy, etc., but Nancy did not listen and even pushed the hooligans in the stadium, why should Feyenoord be punished for that... 16-01-07: Happy new year everybody!
After a long brake I finally am back again. Not much has happened in my absence, only in a few countries some league matches were played, especially in Wales, North Ireland, England, Israel and the Netherlands leagues just continued.
We're halfway now through the leagues - things are getting clearer and clearer now. Teams will slowly drop off from the candidate lists. Titles are getting closer and closer.
I saw that i nthe current qualification prediction there are 3 English teams in CL-pot 1: Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. the current leader, ManUtd is in pot 2. What a strange mechanism is this....
19-12-06: I included the draw in my predictions - as final act for my vacation. And thereby I noticed that I did not put my latyest prediction before the draw. So it was good I did this - though nobody complained about it.
It appeared to be a good draw for Portugal. They managed to get on 5th. Romania dropped a bit back due to Rapid not qualifying last week. Netherlands improved by 4 wins and Feyenoord qualifying.
I have to remark however that I use higher coefficients winning. That means that Feyenoord will win from Tottenham, Porto from Chelsea and Ajax from Bremen. Ofcourse possible, but not likely. I also replaced the groupstage prediction by the one for the remaining rounds.
18-12-06: Most domestic leagues will be hibernating now. Me too. I will be on holiday until Januari 15 going to our antipodi:New Zealand. So no updates will be happening the coming 4 weeks.
Everybody already recovered from the draw? I haven't. Incredible how much bad luck can you have - considering the Dutch UefaCup draw. PSV has with Arsenal not the best and not the worst possible draw. There are certainly options against Arsenal. That is if they play without Henry.
Ajax has the worst draw. Werder showed in CL that they have the CL-level. Ajax showed already before(FCK) they have not. Though yesterday it looked like Huntelaar is slowly gettting his form back (he scored 3 times). Though a lot has to change still. Feyenoord has with Tottenham also, I think, the worst groupwinner. Parma, Rangers, Espanyol, Panathinaikos, Newcastle all seem better, but let's wait till February. Maybe if Feyenorod improves, they have some nice players actually, with Vlaar, Hofs and Lucius. I am also a bit worried about the 'fans'. Both teams don't have a good reputation.
AZ finally has the current leader in Turkey-Fenerbahce, while also Livorno and Zulte were in the same pot. They did their best to become first in the pool, and was it rewarding? It doesn't look like that, but would Steaua be any better?
15-12-06: We are ready for the winter. awaiting the draw..... 11-12-06: We are closing in on the winterbreak- I hope not much will happen from 20 december-15 january, as I will be away during those weeks. A lot of countries will be having a winterbreak, but not in England and Holland, and probably on more places the football is continuing.
Before that winterbreak, a climax will come this week. 13 out of 24 UC next rounders we now. Actualy we already know 21 of 32, including the CL-dropouts. From the 16 teams that wil go out of UC we only know 4. I think that is very little, compared to previous years. We have a lot of direct confrontations for the 3rd spot in a group: Auxerre-Livorno, Leverkusen-Besiktas, Feyenoord-Wisla, Hapoel TA-Boleslav, Palermo-Celta and Fenerbahce-Eintracht. In other matches 1 team needs a point or a win to qualify. There are 3 matches for the topspot: Tottenham-Dinamo, Sevilla-AZ, Blackburn-Nancy. Only 1 match has the least to play for: Rangers-Partizan: Rangers is qualifed, Partizanis already out. Rangers needs a point for being group-winner, but would they really care about that?...
07-12-06: So the CL - Groupstage has finished. At the last day a small surprise: Sporting out and Spartak in the UefaCup. In the end all top-16 teams that participated went through. Sportings loss made Portugal fall back to 7th spot in my predicted year-ranking. Germany has also leaped back over Romania to 5th spot due to HSV's win and because Sporting is out, Bremen meets a lower ranked team and survives UC-R3. I'm looking forward to next weeks matches and the draw ofcourse. All 8 groupwinners seem very strong. From seconds there is Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter who will be the worst to meet...
For the Cupwinners I took sofar just the next in league. If you have any comments let me know(see my email-address at the right)
