The Champions League?

A month on from Wembley, Europe’s premier competition starts again

Bring on the Barca – Luxembourg’s FC Diferdange are only 8 rounds away from the Allianz Arena

Whilst the memories of Messi and co. terrorising Manchester United in the finale of last year’s Champions League final are still vivid in most football fans minds, the fans of the Champions of Europe’s smallest leagues are just days away from kicking off the 2011/12 version of the competition. Exactly one month after the Wembley showpiece, UEFA’s flagship competition will be visiting the slightly less glamorous surroundings of the Stadio Olimpico (Serravalle, not Rome) and the Estadi Comunal (combined capacity of less than 1/10^th of Wembley).
 

The winners of UEFA’s four lowest ranked leagues (the National Championships of Andorra, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino) are facing off in what is essentially a play-off to join the real qualification rounds of the Champions League. FC Santa Coloma of Andorra will play host to Dudelange of Luxembourg in the competition’s first game before 90 minutes later (presumably not moved for television audiences) San Marino’s champions Tre Fiori take on Maltese capital dwellers Valletta.

I’ll concentrate first on Santa Coloma. The Andorrans are entering their 3^rd Champions League campaign having won their 6^th league title last season. The club from the picturesque principality on the French/Spanish border are hoping for a better start to this year’s competition, having had the home leg of the 1^st Qualifying Round last year forfeited due to the shocking standard of their pitch. Not that they could be held solely responsible – the Estadi Comunal is one of only 2 stadiums in Andorra that between them host the entirety of the two-tier Andorran league system.

They will go into the game as massive underdogs against the comparatively massive Dundelange of Luxembourg. The club, formed in 1991 as an amalgamation of three local teams, took their place in the magnificently named League of Honour, Luxembourg’s 2^nd tier in the 91/92 season. They didn’t mess about, getting promoted in their first season, before winning their first title at the turn of the millennium. They’ve since won 9 titles and made history in becoming the first team from the landlocked country to reach the 2^nd qualification round of the tournament (before losing 9-3 on aggregate to Rapid Vienna). They’ll be hoping to reach 2.Q this time round as well, and I expect they will. There they will face Slovenian giants Maribor from whom they can expect nothing.

The 2^nd of the ties sees a Mediterranean battle between the two small countries of San Marino and Malta. The two countries have performed abysmally (perhaps not surprisingly when considering the tiny stature of the places) on the International stage and I’m afraid to say that their club football hasn’t been much better.

Tre Fiori are one of the most successful sides in San Marinese footballing history, winning the hugely competitive Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio title a record 7 times in their 62 year history. They have only played in the Champions League twice in their history but are San Marino’s best ever entrants – by virtue of having scored 3 goals. Having won the 09/10 league title Tre Fiori took on UE Sant Julia of Andorra and came agonisingly close to becoming San Marino’s first representatives in the 2^nd Qualifying Round, but they were defeated on penalties. Unfortunately for them they have got a tough draw in this year’s competition and will find it hard to better their previous attempts of progression.

The team blocking their way are the Manchester United of Malta – Valetta FC. The club based in the capital of the country, who can boast Jordi Cruyff amongst their former players, have won the Maltese Premier League 20 times and have regularly featured in the qualification rounds of European competitions (as Rangers fans may well recall – the Glasgow side having beaten them 18-0 and 10-0 on aggregate in past encounters) without ever making a dent on the biggest stage. They will be looking to take advantage of a kind draw this year though and they have a potentially winnable game against Lithuania’s FK Ekranas in the 2^nd Qualification Round.

Whilst next week may not be the most high profile of occasions, this is how a lot of football fans think this competition should be – a competition of just champions. These four sides will have to play six matches in Europe’s outhouses before they can begin to dream about playing the likes of Villarreal, Lyon and Arsenal – neither of whom came close to winning their respective league titles. So whilst the players of small sides like these can look back on careers in which they have played in the same competition as Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney it isn’t unfair to suggest that they will never come close to sharing a pitch with them.

It’s oft-used thinking that there should be no places for teams who come 2^nd, 3^rd or in some cases 4^th in their league to play in this tournament, but in all honesty it is an essential part of making the Champions League what it is. It’s easy to say that we will have a better tournament with just league winners, but the reality is that a team like Santa Coloma – who average lower crowds than most Blue Square Premier teams, are simply not good enough for what is considered the best club tournament in the world.

It is definitely true that the smallest countries are given an unfair crack of the whip though, and it is hard to see them ever improving without a chance of securing both huge investment and a massive boost in reputation. It will be interesting to see if Platini and co. at UEFA will ever look to re-introduce a more evenly balanced tournament, but whilst the Champions League generates the amount of money it does in its current form, it’s hard to see anything but a harder ride for the minnows. That doesn’t mean that these teams can’t dream – Munich’s Allianz Arena is still just 20 matches away!

Team Dubai

Could the future be bright for Madrid’s third club?

Real Madrid – 31 La Liga titles, 18 Copa Del Rey’s, 9 Champions League’s

Atletico Madrid – 9 La Liga titles, 9 Copa Del Rey’s, Europa League winners in 2010.

Getafe – Errrm?

Getafe regret their ‘any name, any number for €10’ promotion

I think it’s generous to say that Getafe Club de Fútbol are not a household name. Probably most famous for their recent endorsement with Burger King (see this link if you haven’t already http://bit.ly/Ggepe) the club, in their current form, have only existed for 20 years, but they’ve more than made up for lost time.

 

The team who are based in the city of Getafe, a commuter town just 8 miles outside of Madrid, were formed in 1983 as a merger of the previously standing Club Getafe Deportivo, whose claim to fame was drawing 3-3 with Barcelona in 1978’s Copa Del Rey (they lost the 2^nd leg 8-0), and a Real Madrid supporters club based in the city. At the time they weren’t even a footnote in Madrid’s football scene, with even Rayo Vallecano being a football giant in comparison.

The club was successful in its early days, romping through the Spanish regional leagues before seemingly finding their level as they yo-yoed between the Segunda B and Segunda leagues – the 3^rd and 2^nd tiers of Spanish football. They moved into their new home in 1998, the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. It’s known as simply the Coliseum to locals and is named after the Spanish journeyman Alfonso – despite the fact that he never actually played for the club.

 

They started their upswing to their current berth in La Liga in the 2001/02 season by getting promoted to the Segunda despite coming 5^th in the league, being in huge debt and having a player murdered mid-season. They managed a mid-table finish 02/03 season before going on a sensational run to finish 2^nd in the league and secure their first season ever in La Liga, exactly 20 years after their first season.

They’ve since been a solid La Liga club and have featured in the Europa League twice – being minutes away from knocking out Bayern Munich in the 2008 Quarter Finals. They’ve probably been most recognised for over-achieving due to some excellent coaches. They’ve had Quique Sanchez Flores (who guided Atletico to Europa League glory) Bernd Schuster (who went to Real) and Michael Laudrup.

This seems to be the trend for a club who are much smaller than their near city rivals and can only hope to keep their heads above water.

Things could be on the up for the club though, due to an investment from the Royal Emirates Group, chaired by Sheikh Butti Bin Suhail Al Maktoum of the Dubai Royal family. The deal was confirmed in April after a bit of a bizarre rumour frenzy in which the group had announced that they had purchased a Spanish club who they would rename Team Dubai. It was originally thought to be Zaragoza, who are in the financial mire, but it was confirmed to be Getafe in a press conference in Dubai. The final deal saw the team compromise and they will be known as Getafe Team Dubai from next season.

The owners seem to be keen to extend the brand name of Getafe, and they will need to. The Coliseum sees the lowest attendances in La Liga and as a relatively new club Getafe don’t have a great fan base to call from. The club is a part of a great metropolitan area but not only have to compete with Rayo and Atletico but arguably the biggest club in the world in Real Madrid. It seems that the new owners have grand plans for them though.

The group have spent around €80 million on buying the club and whilst we can’t expect to see Getafe plundering Real Madrid and Barcelona’s top stars some genuine investment could see them challenging towards the Champions League spaces in years to come. Project manager Suleiman al Butti says “‘Our vision is to now beat Real Madrid”, whilst managing director Kaiser Rafiq has promised a top 6 finish this year.

There are apparently plans afoot to move to a new, bigger stadium (which will probably break Alfonso’s heart) and they will be hoping to secure some new playing talent in time for the new season. I’d suggest that Getafe won’t be signing any players of real quality until they are at least in Europa League again (they only finished 16^th this year and didn’t get out of their Europa League group) but that could see them flourish and take advantage of the decline of the likes of the bankrupt Valencia.

They’ve hired Luis Garcia Plaza, formerly of Levante, as their manager and they can play some good stuff at times, but they will need to expand a small squad which has a small nucleus of quality with ex-QPR and Real Madrid man Daniel Parejo and little Venezuelan striker Miku standing out. They will have to do well to retain any players (and coaches) that perform well as that has hindered them in the past, but with new investment that should be a thing of the past.