By my understanding there are currently 2 possible routes for us into Europe next season. The first being the fair play league, which I don't know much about myself. I seem to remember this is how Fulham qualified that time they went all the way to the final, if my memory serves me correctly. Apparently England are 4th in it, with Arsenal top and us 2nd, with the extra Europa place going to us if England move into 3rd? I'm not sure if that's true just what I've heard.
The second possibility would be if Chelsea finish in the top 4 and then also win the Europa league, thus gaining the Prem another Europa spot. To qualify I think we would need to beat Everton on Sunday and then go on and finish above them in the league.
A place in Europa is not lost yet, but how do you feel about it as a competition?
Personally I like the idea of it, and more specifically us competing in it. It has it's worth as it provides more games, therefore a better use of the squad, providing a great platform for younger players. Especially the early rounds. Again it also increases our exposure throughout Europe, and I think raises our ranking co-efficient for if and when we return to the Champions league. Also I think this years edition of the competition has been pretty good and exciting. The money isn't great relative to the Champions league and it could be improved by providing more an incentive to win it, for instance the winner gains qualification to the Champions league, but all in all it's ok, and some European competition is better then none in my book.
Anyway, here's hoping we can move on up into 6th and claim a Europa spot!
Routes into Europa
posted on 28/4/13
Let's try and finish 6th by beating Everton and winning the rest of the games. It's largely out of our hands but we need to finish the season strong with our heads held high.
posted on 28/4/13
DJ is that because the place will then go to the runner-up of the final or?
posted on 28/4/13
Taken from BBC live text:
Chelsea v Swansea (1500 BST)
A bit of a footnote to Chelsea's season is that should they win the Europa League, they will gain an extra place for English clubs presuming they qualify for Europe through their own league position.
posted on 28/4/13
RR, I read on the UEFA website that the Europa doesn't give a country an extra place. I will see if I can find it, or something to the contrary.
posted on 28/4/13
England wont move up to 3rd, there was quite alot of red cards this weeked
posted on 28/4/13
Cheers DJ.
That's true Suso there were, 3 in that southampton - west brom alone.
So is there only one Europa spot based on league position and then 2 for cup winners (Fa + league)?
posted on 28/4/13
Neither Spain nor Portugal got an extra place in the 2 previous seasons when Porto and Atletico Madrid qualified for the CL after winning the Europa.
For instance...
Since the winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, Porto, qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage was vacated. As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage:[7]
The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Scotland and Bulgaria) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Belarus and Republic of Ireland) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
The domestic cup winners of associations 52 and 53 (Malta and San Marino) and the domestic league runners-up of associations 33 and 34 (Latvia and Moldova) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
posted on 28/4/13
Ah ok fair enough, looks like no Europa for us next year then!
posted on 28/4/13
I feel we can finish sixth. We have to beat Everton, then they have to play Chelsea.
posted on 28/4/13
I'd rather not have the Europa league next season we could solely concentrate on the league and look to win a cup, playing the the Europa means to many Sunday games!