The Footie Fool

Okay, so, you are about to embark on your first season following European soccer. You’ve picked your league and chosen your team, ordered your jersey (wait…you haven’t ordered any gear yet? I’ll wait while you go and grab a shirt). Okay, now you are ready to cheer them on to victory as they chase the league title. Or the UEFA Cup. Or the Champions League title. Or the FA Cup.

Wait a sec? Just what the heck are they chasing? What are all these bloody competitions? Which ones are important and which ones can you skip (although a true fan will say none to that question)?

Well, here is your quick and dirty primer to the major European soccer competitions this year.

The Domestic League

First things first - the domestic league race. Each of the three big leagues (England, Spain and Italy) have a similar format. Finish in the bottom three and you are booted out of the top league and have to play next season a division lower.

Unlike North American sports, there are no playoffs. Finish with the most points at the end of the season and you win the league. However, there is incentive for teams to play hard to the end of the season at both ends of the table, which often leads to an exciting season finish as the battle to avoid being relegated is often as fierce as the battle for the top of the table.

So, while there is only one league winner, there is also incentive for teams to finish high in the rankings. If you finish high in the standings at the end of the season, you can qualify for the 2 European leagues: the Champions League and the UEFA Cup.

The Champions League

This is the best league in Europe and the trophy, the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, is the top prize in European soccer. The Champions League is made up of the top teams from each of the domestic European leagues. This is the league where you will find Manchester United playing AC Milan and Real Madrid taking on Liverpool. The draws are set up so that clubs in the same country can’t meet until the quarter-finals.

Qualifying is a long process with qualifying starting before the domestic leagues begin. But the bigger, seeded teams don’t get going until later in the competition. Things get really interesting when you get to the knockout stages early in the Spring and there are only 16 teams left.

All qualifying rounds and knock-out ties are two-legged, with each team hosting one match. The team which scores the greater aggregate number of goals qualifies for the next round. TSN usually carries the Champions League here in Canada. A.C. Milan are the reigning European champions.

Check out the official Champions League site for more info.

The UEFA Cup

This is the second biggest European competition. The field is made up of teams that finish below the top 4 in each of the big leagues, and teams that were knocked out of the Champions League at various stages. Unless your team is in this competition, you can probably pass on the UEFA Cup. Check out the UEFA Cup site for more.

The Intertoto Cup

This competition could be called the best of the worst in European soccer. It’s a summer tournament and it was designed to give clubs who don’t qualify for the Champions League or UEFA Cup a chance to gain some experience at playing other European clubs. Pass on this one, unless you have your heart set on seeing that SK Sigma Olomouc vs. Brescia Calcio game.

The FA Cup (England)

This is an interesting tournament in that you can see some really silly matchups and some astonishing upsets. Basically, the FA Cup is a knockout tournament open to any English football club. The bigger teams are seeded and don’t enter the competition until the later rounds. Because it involves every level of club playing against each other, there is always the possibility that a second or third division team could knock off a Prem team, like Shrewsbury Town did to Everton a couple years ago. Although it is highly unlikely, the possibility can still make for some interesting games. The winners qualify for the UEFA Cup. Catching any of these games on TV in North America is hard to do. The official FA Cup site has more info.

The Italian version of the FA Cup is called the Coppa Italia, while Spain’s is the Copa del Rey.

The Carling Cup (England)

Like the FA Cup, the Carling Cup is an English cup competition. Unlike the FA Cup where every team in English football can compete, the Carling Cup is limited to the top 4 divisions. Also up for grabs in this competition is a spot in the UEFA Cup. But this competition is a low priority for the big clubs and they will often field their second string team or use it to develop young players. Probably pretty safe to miss these games. I’m not familiar with an Italian or Spanish equivalent. The Carling Cup site.

International Competitions

The big international competition that European teams are gearing up for is Euro 2008 , which takes place in Austria & Switzerland next summer. This is a national competition, not club competition with countries competing for top honours in Europe. After the World Cup, it’s one of the biggest international soccer competitions. You’ll see wall to wall coverage of Euro 2008 on TV next summer as it is a marquee event, but not much coverage leading up to the actual final tournament. Qualifying is underway and will continue for the next number of months leading up to the finals. The Euro 2008 site is where you can catch up and follow this event.