Football Banter

I know the weather isn't helping but my god is the Tottenham v Man Utd game dull.

when both teams score its goals galore just hope atletico madrid will let 1 in now cos im sure they will score

we think adkins had it bad wot about olympiakos coach unbeaten at top of the greek league by 10 points and sacked
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q...TBP_8nwu4Q

See SAF draws and he is berating Refs again

(20-01-2013 01:26 )Fernandez Esperenda Wrote:  

(19-01-2013 23:41 )kalel76 Wrote:  Swansea are a great side to watch and a breath of fresh air to the league.

Liverpool are the new swansea I would like to watch swansea vs Barcelona though, would be an entertaining game.

It's not impossible that that could happen. UEFA have confirmed that if Swansea finish in a Europa League position - either by means of their League position or more likely by winning the Carling Cup - they will be allowed to take one of England's places in Europe next year. However, should they finish 4th or higher they would not be allowed into the Champions League and they would not have been allowed into Europe as winners of the FA Cup.

However, Barcelona getting knocked out in the group stages and dropping into the Europa League would be a far bigger stumbling block!!

As a historical footnote, Swansea would have qualified for the old UEFA Cup by finishing 6th in the 1st Division in 1981/82, but as they won the Welsh Cup that season they went into the Cup-Winners Cup instead, which let Southampton take their place in the UEFA.

If they finished 4th why wouldn't they be allowed in champions league?

(21-01-2013 08:08 )Fernandez Esperenda Wrote:  If they finished 4th why wouldn't they be allowed in champions league?

Swansea, like Cardiff, are members of the Welsh FA, they are playing in a 'foreign' league. At one time, they were under the jurisdiction of the WFA in things like disciplinary matters, which meant they often had different, and more lenient, treatment to english teams, but I believe there is now an agreement that the disciplinary outcomes will be the same as for english clubs.
There was some debate previously when Cardiff reached the Carling Cup final, about whether they would be allowed an 'english' place in europe. There is a similar situation elsewhere, for example, some Lichtenstein clubs play in the swiss league.
The general ruling from Uefa was that 'foreign' clubs would not be allowed another countries european places, but a qualifying team may be given a special invite (not unlike Liverpool were invited back into Champions League as winners). I don't know about the ruling mr williams is quoting, I haven't seen or heard that, but it could certainly be the case.

The WFA has been pushing to get a european place for the winners of the Welsh Cup, and there is the real prospect of the likes of Swansea and Cardiff playing in that competition rather than the FA Cup if they succeed, in order to challenge for the european prize.

(20-01-2013 23:29 )mr williams Wrote:  It's not impossible that that could happen. UEFA have confirmed that if Swansea finish in a Europa League position - either by means of their League position or more likely by winning the Carling Cup - they will be allowed to take one of England's places in Europe next year. However, should they finish 4th or higher they would not be allowed into the Champions League and they would not have been allowed into Europe as winners of the FA Cup.

I've no idea where this information comes from, but it was generally reported in March last year that UEFA had ruled that Welsh clubs playing in the English league would qualify for Europe (including the Champions League) if they finished high enough to do so and would qualify for the Europa League if they won either the FA Cup or the League Cup, i.e. to put it in a nutshell, UEFA ruled that Welsh clubs in the English league were to be treated no differently to English clubs.

(21-01-2013 08:28 )munch1917 Wrote:  The WFA has been pushing to get a european place for the winners of the Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup winners have always had a place in Europe. In the 70s and 80s Cardiff City got to the semi-final and Wrexham and Newport the quarter-finals of the old Cup-Winners Cup having gone in as Welsh Cup Winners.

For many years, Wales never had a place in the European Cup or UEFA Cup which is why Swansea could have qualified in 1982 (under the same precedent that Monaco represented France) but in those days the four clubs couldn't go into the Cup-Winners via the English FA Cup.

What changed was when the Soviet block and the Balkan states fell apart and a whole host of new countries came along, and in the revamp Wales were included in the list of new countries to get European places in the other competitions, including the new Champions League. It was at this time that the Welsh "Big 4" (along with teams like Merthyr and Rhyl who then played in what we now call the Conference) were told they could only enter either the English or Welsh FA Cup and this is what the Welsh FA are trying to reverse. Currently the Welsh Cup winners go into the 1st qualifying round of the Europa League.

For years the English FA were happy to ignore the issue as a) they do everything possible to avoid drawing attention to the debate over why the four nations still have separate nation status - the FA have many enemies within FIFA who are vociferous that we should have just one UK or GB team, but fortunately they have no political clout - and b) until the past couple of years the possibility of a Welsh club getting anywhere near the Premiership or winning an English Cup was pure fantasy.

This BBC article confirms the ruling:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17459332

(21-01-2013 14:01 )mr williams Wrote:  this is what the Welsh FA are trying to reverse.

It's fair to say that they have about zero chance of success, as Welsh clubs won't be allowed to have a chance of qualifying for Europe through both English and Welsh competitions. It has to be one or the other.