UEFA Coefficients! We just keep on climbing!

ABC7 · September 20th, 2003, 18:27

hey everyone...well i think that this one should be made a sticky so we can follow our clubs in the euro cups more and our national standing. we've improved 5 spots since last year thanx mainly to partizan and zvezda's solid performance last year in the uefa cup (sporting & chievo). Also this year we are guaranteed to jump at least 1 place (so 17th league in europe) because poland has too little teams to keep their standing.

if anyone is interest....here is the official site:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/

place/country/99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 rank04/clubsInEurope

1 Spain 18.571 16.611 14.857 15.500 1.562 67.101 8/ 8
2 England 14.500 14.166 11.571 10.666 1.500 52.403 8/ 8
3 Italy 12.000 9.812 12.571 15.928 1.750 52.061 8/ 8
4 Germany 11.071 11.062 13.500 9.142 0.714 45.489 7/ 7
5 France 10.285 9.500 7.125 7.916 1.500 36.326 7/ 7
6 Portugal 5.833 6.125 9.375 10.750 0.750 32.833 4/ 4
7 Greece 5.416 6.750 11.250 7.166 0.833 31.415 6/ 6
8 Netherlands 6.250 6.083 10.166 6.166 0.583 29.248 6/ 6
9 Scotland 5.125 5.625 6.625 7.375 2.875 27.625 4/ 4
10 Czech Republic 8.000 6.000 5.500 6.200 1.875 27.575 4/ 4
11 Turkey 7.750 7.750 5.625 4.666 0.666 26.457 6/ 6
12 Belgium 3.250 7.000 5.875 6.875 2.375 25.375 4/ 4
13 Switzerland 4.125 4.375 6.125 5.875 0.875 21.375 3/ 4
14 Austria 3.875 7.750 3.375 4.000 1.125 20.125 4/ 4
15 Israel 3.000 1.833 8.333 5.833 1.000 19.999 3/ 4
16 Ukraine 5.375 4.000 3.625 4.250 2.375 19.625 4/ 4
17 Poland 3.250 3.625 4.125 6.625 1.375 19.000 2/ 4
18 Serbia-Montenegro 3.166 4.500 3.166 4.833 2.500 18.165 3/ 3
19 Norway 5.200 4.625 3.250 2.700 1.625 17.400 4/ 4
20 Bulgaria 3.833 3.000 4.833 4.166 1.500 17.332 2/ 3

Keep in mind that...
from 15th place ... those countries have AT LEAST 2 clubs in the champions league and i think with enough effort our country will be there in 2 years as we are guaranteed MINIMUM 17th place by the end of this year.

So let's all hope for as much points as Partizan can get in their Champions League Group! 2 Zvezda wins in the UEFA Cup First round, and then after that to try and get as many draws and wins..and WHATEVER sartid does will be a bonus.

Napred SCG TEAMS!

Nibble · September 21st, 2003, 10:36

Israel is in 15th place??? Maybe my memory is toast, but I don't even remember the last time they had a club in the Champions' League or even did well in other European competitions. Hell, They shouldn't even be allowed in the UEFA since they're not even in Europe.

Borba · September 21st, 2003, 11:19

Maccabi Haifa had a great run in the UEFA Cup and qualified for the champions league i beleive. That is probably why they are up there.

Parni Valjak · September 21st, 2003, 18:19

Yeah, Borba is right, a couple of lucky breaks and they have come so high..No worries, our clubs are certainly better than the top Isreali sides, I definately think that we can climb some more spots this year..

P.S. Don't forget, due to our results last year, next year we have another team in the UEFA Cup (we'll have 3 clubs)..

Andrix · September 21st, 2003, 19:09

Well, maybe, remember the UEFA Cup is being revamped for the 2004/5 season, and now there are 2 qualifying rounds.

Had the UEFA Cup kept its format for next season, it would have meant that our Cup Winner would start in the 1st round instead of qualifying, our 2nd placed team would start in qualifying still, while we would add the 3rd placed team, also starting in qualifying. The new format can be seen here:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/uc2004.html (assuming that berth allocation remains the same, but that could change).

If we hold on to 18th place, say, then we would get 3 teams in the UEFA Cup as follows (CW, RU1, RU2) all starting in the 2nd qualifying round, meaning they would need to negotiate 2 rounds to reach the new UEFA Cup group stage.

Renfurm · September 21st, 2003, 23:39

An extra UEFA Cup spot also means the total number of co-ef points gained will be dived by 4 instead of 3, which means that the fourth clubs must gain a respectable amount of points in order for the Serbian league to keep it's current position (or progress even further).

If they for instance draw one and lose one match in the qualifying round it this extra place will do us more harm than good.

One of the main reasons the Serbian league has jumped up several places over the past few seasons is because we've had less clubs in Europe then those countries right above us. Because of this advantage we've passed (some of) them by. In the next few seasons we won't have this advantage anymore and then we'll find out if the Serbian league really deserves it's current position.

Parni Valjak · September 22nd, 2003, 00:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Renfurm
One of the main reasons the Serbian league has jumped up several places over the past few seasons is because we've had less clubs in Europe then those countries right above us. Because of this advantage we've passed (some of) them by. In the next few seasons we won't have this advantage anymore and then we'll find out if the Serbian league really deserves it's current position.

But at the same time, our smaller clubs are capable of suprising people and advancing far into a competition.. For example, look at our neighbours, Croatia, who over the years had a couple of their smaller clubs go pretty far in a European competition, and thus earn them extra points.. Also, it seems like our league has become much more competitive and closer now, with lots of clubs separated by less then 2 points..

IMO (and I think I am speaking objectively

), Partizan are heads&shoulders above everyone else, and then RS, Zeleznik and OFK Beograd follow them at about the same level... Surely, if for example OFK Beograd grabbed the extra UEFA Cup spot, and kept the same team with a few additions, they could do well in the competition..

Renfurm · September 22nd, 2003, 01:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Parni Valjak
But at the same time, our smaller clubs are capable of suprising people and advancing far into a competition.. For example, look at our neighbours, Croatia, who over the years had a couple of their smaller clubs go pretty far in a European competition, and thus earn them extra points.. Also, it seems like our league has become much more competitive and closer now, with lots of clubs separated by less then 2 points..

As a result of that the Croatian league was at one point 13th on the ranking, but their clubs couldn't keep up the standard of previous years. That combined with the extra handicap of having more teams in Europe (more teams but not more points) resulted in a decline in their ranking which leaves them currently below Serbia. From now on the situation will be reversed and Croatia will have the advantage, so it's not unthinkable they will pass us again in 2 or 3 seasons if the "new" Serb club(s) in Europe aren't up for it.

IMO (and I think I am speaking objectively), Partizan are heads&shoulders above everyone else, and then RS, Zeleznik and OFK Beograd follow them at about the same level... Surely, if for example OFK Beograd grabbed the extra UEFA Cup spot, and kept the same team with a few additions, they could do well in the competition..

Recent performances of OFK and other Serbian clubs in the Intertoto have left me unconvinced so far.

Parni Valjak · September 22nd, 2003, 01:52

OFK Beograd did dissapoint this summer, however it was the Intertoto Cup and a competition which not many clubs take seriously.. In fact, it's fair to say that over 90 % of the players in that competition don't want to be there... It's no excuse, but I just don't think that the motivation was there.

P.S. The Intertoto Cup doesn't count for countrys' respective coefficients, correct ? If so, this IMO makes the competition even more useless.

Andrix · September 22nd, 2003, 01:59

The Intertoto Cup is not useless as it allows the ability to reach the UEFA Cup. It's not a bad competition, but no, it doesn't count for coefficients.

The reason Croatia fell back is because they failed to put a team in the CL consistently (for several seasons, Hajduk or Dinamo/NK Croatia were regulars in the competition). With some other countries, it also 1 or 2 clubs that maintain their standing (i.e Rangers and Celtic in Scotland, in Ukraine it used to be just Dynamo now it's Dynamo and Shakhtar), so as long as Partizan can qualify for the CL season after season and as long as one of our UEFA Cup clubs reach the the 2nd or 3rd round, we'll do fine. The CL carries a swathe more points than the UEFA Cup I believe.

Ben Akiba · September 22nd, 2003, 02:58

1 CL + 2 UEFA + 2 Intertoto is currently very good formula for our club football and a realistic reflection of our clubs' quality. I could be totally wrong, as I am most of the time, but I do not expect any of our clubs to qualify for the CL on a regular basis in the near future. P-zan is an exception. With all due respect, it took a lot of courage and luck to qualify for the CL with the record 1-2-1 on p-kicks. Once our clubs can go convincingly through these qualifications, we'll have a regular spot in the CL (although I hope this competition, as it is now, will cease to exist soon) and an additional spot in the UEFA Cup.

Intertoto is fine for our "minor" clubs to get acquainted with a European competition. For whatever objective and subjective reasons, OFK and Sutjeska squandred such an opportunity last summer by embaressing themselves against very minor European clubs. The price is big, 3 spots in the UEFA Cup.

MARE · September 22nd, 2003, 22:27

I think the clubs that play Inter-toto should still be motivated, I mean they could get into the UEFA Cup if all goes well, so why not ?
This way it could help the team more plus the whole country.

ABC7 · September 23rd, 2003, 02:42

I really like this new UEFA Cup format as it brings a lot of european games (aka money) to our teams. if our teams can get by that 1st round..which i'm thinking that they could (partizan and zvezda should anyway....i dunno bout the rest) well then u are guaranteed a group stage.....which is like 3 home games?

i like this new system.

Andrix · September 23rd, 2003, 04:07

Well, it's 5 teams per group playing each team only once (4 games per team). So it's probably 2 home games.