Please Explain The UEFA

[Boom_70]

Can some explain the UEFA to me. Chelsea just won the Championship. Is this the same Chelsea that is the Premier league won by Manchester City?

 

[Shoeless Joe]

Premier League is a domestic regular season.
Champions League is a tournament for the top teams from all countries in Europe.

 

[Boom_70]

Premier League is a domestic regular season.
Champions League is a tournament for the top teams from all countries in Europe.

Thx - so if I understand then the winner of Premier league moves to the Champions league.

Would it be analogous to March Madness?

What happened to Manchester City? I thought that they won the Premier league.

 

[Azrael]

UEFA is a separate tournament.

 

[kingcreole]

The UEFA Champions League is actually pretty damn complicated. To the best of my knowledge, every European nation that has a league (including Israel) gets a bid in some shape or form into the Champions League, whether it's England or Andorra.

Some of the stronger leagues, like England, Spain and Germany, get three automatic teams into the group stage (the final 32 teams). Chelsea will get an automatic bid to this round. The champion from, say, Finland, has to go through a few qualifying stages to reach the final round of 32 with the big boys.

 

[Boom_70]

Do the seasons of both leagues coincide? If you make the UEFA do you still participate in the Premier League for that season?

 

[Shoeless Joe]

Premier League is a domestic regular season.
Champions League is a tournament for the top teams from all countries in Europe.

Thx - so if I understand then the winner of Premier league moves to the Champions league.

Would it be analogous to March Madness?

What happened to Manchester City? I thought that they won the Premier league.

Participation is based on the previous season because the Champions League runs from Aug-May (or there about) just like the seasons.

As pointed out by kingcreole, some nations get more entrants than others. When it first started back in the 1950s, it truly was a "Champions League" meaning that all the national league champions from each country played. Now, with TV money, etc., it has gone beyond that.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

Most of the top clubs from the big countries will play three and four competitions all at the same time, that's why bigger clubs will sometimes have 70 matches in a season. They will play their national league, Champions League, at least one national cup competition and sometimes two.

 

[JosephC.Myers]

Yeah, there's a bunch of qualifying rounds in the Champions League and the Europa Cup as well. It's where all the minnows (as they call them on FIFA.com) take on each other.

 

[deskslave]

Premier League is a domestic regular season.
Champions League is a tournament for the top teams from all countries in Europe.

Thx - so if I understand then the winner of Premier league moves to the Champions league.

Would it be analogous to March Madness?

What happened to Manchester City? I thought that they won the Premier league.

Participation is based on the previous season because the Champions League runs from Aug-May (or there about) just like the seasons.

As pointed out by kingcreole, some nations get more entrants than others. When it first started back in the 1950s, it truly was a "Champions League" meaning that all the national league champions from each country played. Now, with TV money, etc., it has gone beyond that.

Not all leagues run on the same calendar. Those in countries with harsh winters operate on a summer schedule. However, they don't get any special dispensation in the European competitions.

Once upon a time, the European Cup, the predecessor of the Champions League, was reserved solely for league champions. Now you can get in by finishing as low as fourth in a top-tier league. They also used to have a European Cup-Winners Cup, for winners of domestic cup competitions, and the UEFA Cup, the forerunner of the Europa League, for everyone else. (The Runners-Up Cup, as it used to be informally known. Although England have a long-standing tradition of sending the League Cup winner to the UEFA Cup/Europa League. Most other countries don't bother with two cup competitions.)

 

[Boom_70]

Appreciate all the responses. I have a lot clearer picture now.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

and we haven't even gotten into the defunct Fairs Cup or the beloved Intertoto Cup!

 

[deskslave]

Appreciate all the responses. I have a lot clearer picture now.

We look forward to another summer of soccer trolling as we approach Euro 2012.

 

[sprtswrtr10]

Understanding the nature of European soccer has been a longtime frustration for me and I have to say, this thread, thus far, only gives me a better idea of what I don't understand. I'm still waiting for someone to explain it to me clearly, but making this the first sentence of the explanation: "OK, you've got every single soccer team in Europe."

It appears to me that, over here, franchises are so clearly members of a league — NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL — but over there, it's almost as though the teams are free agents (makes me wonder how contracts are worked out, because what, exactly, is a season?) I also wonder, to the hardcore Liverpool or Manchester City or Tottenham fan, what's the bigger deal, winning the English Premier League or winning the Champions League (which really isn't a league, but a tournament)?

Like, didn't Chelsea just win the equivalent of the NIT, back when the NIT was a bigger deal than the NCAA Tournament. (I'm only trying to be kind of silly)

And, of course, isn't there some feature that works like so: if the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles (this season notwithstanding) were English soccer teams, they wouldn't even be in the premier league at this moment; after so many losing seasons, they would have dropped a rung (or two) and had to work their way back up, because, in essence, minor league teams can become major league teams in a premier league landscape. Or am I wrong about that?

I should say, the reason I want to understand it is that I enjoy soccer. So, when I turn on the TV and something's on from Europe, I want to know the context in which the game is being played. Context is everything. But it's never clear to me. It's hardly ever clear what it is I'm really watching.

 

[Boom_70]

Appreciate all the responses. I have a lot clearer picture now.

We look forward to another summer of soccer trolling as we approach Euro 2012.

Really cheap shot. I truly wanted to understand and thankfully the majority provided solid information.

 

[JosephC.Myers]

Here's the access list for the 2013 Europa Cup. It has how many entries each country has, who the entries are (Cup Winner, League runner-up, etc.) and what round they come into the competition. Don't think the one for the Champions League is out yet.
It's a short turnaround time, though, as the draw is scheduled for June 25 and the tournaments start July 5.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2013/accesslist/index.html

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

 

[Azrael]

The Euro Championship 2012 is different yet, and the FA Cup is another thing entirely.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Understanding the nature of European soccer has been a longtime frustration for me and I have to say, this thread, thus far, only gives me a better idea of what I don't understand. I'm still waiting for someone to explain it to me clearly, but making this the first sentence of the explanation: "OK, you've got every single soccer team in Europe."

It appears to me that, over here, franchises are so clearly members of a league — NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL — but over there, it's almost as though the teams are free agents (makes me wonder how contracts are worked out, because what, exactly, is a season?) I also wonder, to the hardcore Liverpool or Manchester City or Tottenham fan, what's the bigger deal, winning the English Premier League or winning the Champions League (which really isn't a league, but a tournament)?

Like, didn't Chelsea just win the equivalent of the NIT, back when the NIT was a bigger deal than the NCAA Tournament. (I'm only trying to be kind of silly)

And, of course, isn't there some feature that works like so: if the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles (this season notwithstanding) were English soccer teams, they wouldn't even be in the premier league at this moment; after so many losing seasons, they would have dropped a rung (or two) and had to work their way back up, because, in essence, minor league teams can become major league teams in a premier league landscape. Or am I wrong about that?

I should say, the reason I want to understand it is that I enjoy soccer. So, when I turn on the TV and something's on from Europe, I want to know the context in which the game is being played. Context is everything. But it's never clear to me. It's hardly ever clear what it is I'm really watching.

Stop trying to find comparisons to American sports. Once you do that, it becomes easier to grasp.

 

[Webster]

Understanding the nature of European soccer has been a longtime frustration for me and I have to say, this thread, thus far, only gives me a better idea of what I don't understand. I'm still waiting for someone to explain it to me clearly, but making this the first sentence of the explanation: "OK, you've got every single soccer team in Europe."

It appears to me that, over here, franchises are so clearly members of a league — NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL — but over there, it's almost as though the teams are free agents (makes me wonder how contracts are worked out, because what, exactly, is a season?) I also wonder, to the hardcore Liverpool or Manchester City or Tottenham fan, what's the bigger deal, winning the English Premier League or winning the Champions League (which really isn't a league, but a tournament)?

Like, didn't Chelsea just win the equivalent of the NIT, back when the NIT was a bigger deal than the NCAA Tournament. (I'm only trying to be kind of silly)

And, of course, isn't there some feature that works like so: if the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles (this season notwithstanding) were English soccer teams, they wouldn't even be in the premier league at this moment; after so many losing seasons, they would have dropped a rung (or two) and had to work their way back up, because, in essence, minor league teams can become major league teams in a premier league landscape. Or am I wrong about that?

I should say, the reason I want to understand it is that I enjoy soccer. So, when I turn on the TV and something's on from Europe, I want to know the context in which the game is being played. Context is everything. But it's never clear to me. It's hardly ever clear what it is I'm really watching.

I think that for the top teams, the Champions League is the ultimate, even if it is a bit more of a crap shoot than the 32-38 game league season.

For a team like Man City, given that they haven't won the league title in 40 or so years, that certainly is a major accomplishment and one which makes any season a stunning success. But even a team like Man United, which has won the EPL more than anyone else, I think that they find their inability to win more than 2 Big Cup titles in the modern era to be a slight stain on their legacy and they really tried to adjust their roster to keep up with Barcelona (although I'm still not convinced that Messi would do well on a rainy Tuesday night in Stoke).

The group stages of the Champions League can be a bit boring, because usually the best teams cruise through the next knockout rounds (although teams like Man city and Man United didn't make it through this year). But when you get to the final 16, you usually have the top teams from Germany, Italy, Spain and England still around. Absent a favorable draw, you need to beat 3 or 4 of the best of the best to win it all.