Europa League fixtures/results, Europa League fixtures/results (ESPN Soccernet).
The Quarter-finals of the 09/10 Europa League begin on Thursday, 1st April, with the second leg matches a week later. Of the 8 clubs still alive, there are 2 English clubs (Fulham and Liverpool), 2 German clubs (Hamburg and Wolfsburg), 2 Spanish clubs (Atletico Madrid and Valencia), a Belgian club (Standard Liege), and a Portuguese club (Benfica).
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How ’bout them Cottagers? At Craven Cottage, West London, on 18th March, Fulham found themselves down to Juventus 4-1 aggregate, after a 2nd minute goal by Juve’s David Trezeguet. Fulham they got one goal back 9 minutes in, from Bobby Zamora, then were given a man advantage after a straight red card to Juventus’ Cannavaro. Fulham’s Zoltan Gera then scored late in the first half, and netted a penalty kick in the 49th minute, after Diego handled the ball. But it was a tense match that looked headed for extra time. In the 71st minute, Fulham manager Roy Hodgson put in Clint Dempsey for Stephen Kelly, and 9 minutes later the move proved brilliant, when the Texas-born Dempsey, at the top edge of the box on the right-hand side, chipped a stunning, where-on-earth-did-that-come-from shot that looped all the way across the goal mouth to land just inside in the upper-left corner of the goal. It could arguably be called the greatest moment in the history of Fulham FC, a club that has won no major trophies, has only played 21 seasons in the English top flight, and had never played in Europe prior to this season.

Thanks to Tim’s 92 site for the panoramic photo, www.tims92.co.uk.
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There is a new site on my blogroll…Tanked Up-Imaging.com site, which has an unusual feature that all other deep-sea-diving/underwater photography sites lack…maps of football leagues and competitions from Europe and beyond.
The maps are interactive (that’s an element that is beyond the limited technical abilities of Bill T, here). A cool feature is when you hover your cursor over the club’s name on the map, the club’s logo appears along with a small box that lists the club’s stadium and domestic titles. Click and you get sent to that club’s site.
Tanked-Up, interactive maps…European Football League maps and history.
Thanks to Spurs fan Martin, at Tanked-Up site, for the link, and for the entertaining e-mails.

The 2009-10 Europa League’s Round of 16 will have it’s two-legged matches on Thursdays 11th and 18th March.
Fixtures, Europa League Round of 16 fixtures.
Europa League page at UEFA.com, UEFA.com/Europa League.
Still alive in the competition are 3 German clubs, 2 Belgian clubs, 2 English clubs, 2 French clubs, 2 Portuguese clubs, 2 Spanish clubs, and 1 club from Greece, Italy, and Russia.
Kudos to Roy Hodgson’s Fulham, who ousted de-facto reigning champions Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine. Unlike some English clubs in recent seasons (like Bolton and Aston Villa), Fulham have taken this second-echelon competition seriously. Their reward is a high profile draw versus Italian giants Juventus, who are one of 5 clubs in this round who have in the past won titles in Europe’s first-echelon competition, the European Cup (1956-1992)/UEFA Champions League (1993 to present). Those 5 are: Liverpool (5 titles, most recently in 2005), Juventus (2 titles, most recently in 1996), Benfica (2 titles, most recently in 1962), Marseille (in 1993), and Hamburg (in 1983).
As for winners of the Europa League’s predecessor, the UEFA Cup, 4 of the 16 clubs here have titles: Liverpool (3 titles, most recently in 2001), Juventus (3 titles, most recently in 1993), Anderlecht (in 1983), and Valencia (in 2004).

Here are the match-ups {click here (UEFA site)}. 

On the map,  at top left,  is the draw for the round of 32.  Team 2 has the advantage of having second home match in the two-legged ties.  As usual,  club crests are sized to reflect each club’s average attendance (from last season’s domestic league).    

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org {click here}.   Thanks to E-F-S site, for the gate figures {click here}.

There are 48 clubs in the Group Stage of this the inaugural Europa League competition.  The biggest difference between the Europa League and the competition it replaced,  the UEFA Cup,  is that the group stage now consists of 12 4-team groups playing home-and-away matches against the other 3 teams in the group.  The UEFA Cup had 8 5-team groups playing single matches against the other 4 teams in the group.

10 of the clubs come into the competition from the Champions League play-off round…Sheriff [Tiraspol],  of Moldova’s breakaway Transdnester region;  Red Bull Salzburg,  of Austria;  FK Ventspils of Latvia;  FC Copenhagen,  of Denmark;  Levski Sofia,  of Bulgaria;  RSC Anderlecht,  of Belgium;  Celtic FC,  of Scotland,;  Timisoara,  of Romania;  Sporting CP,  of Portugal;  and Panathinaikos,  of Greece.

There are some pretty big clubs in the 09/10 Europa League.  Clubs which averaged over 30,000 last season (in their domestic leagues) are as follows… Scotland’s Celtic FC;  Germany’s Hamburg,  Hertha Berlin,  and Werder Bremen; the Netherlands’ Ajax, and PSV Eindhoven;  Italy’s AS Roma, and SS Lazio;  Spain’s Valencia CF,  and Athletic [Bilbao];   England’s Everton;  Portugal’s SL Benfica;  and Turkey’s Fenerbahce SK [06/07 gate figures for Fenerbahce, as none more recent were available].   

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org {click here (set at 2009-10 Europa League)}.   Thanks to uefa.com/Europa League page {click here}.

So while English clubs like Bolton (last season) and Aston Villa (this season) feel it is necessary to field weakened sides in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup,  clubs from many other parts of Europe feel otherwise.

UEFA Coefficient rankings for 2009-2010, {click here}.

Thanks to ESPN Soccernet, for attendance figures {click here (set at 2008-’09 Bundesliga attendances).   Thanks to the European Football Statistics site for attendance figures {click here}.   Thanks to Ukrainiansoccer.net,  for attendance figures {click here}.   Thanks to the contibutors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here (set to 08/09 UEFA Cup/Round of 16).

Thanks to Colours Of Football, for kits {click here}.   Thanks to Switch Image Project for kits {click here}.   [Note: I decided not to display the Euro kits which some clubs have, because I was unable to get illustrations of all of these.  So I used their domestic leagues kits.  To see: Olimpique Marseille’s 08/09 Euro kit, (click here};  St.-Etienne’s 08/09 Euro kit, {click here};  Hamburg’s 08/09 Euro Kit, (click here}

The two-legged match-ups can be seen {here (UEFA site) }.

UEFA site/ UEFA Cup page, latest news {click here}.   ‘Ten to watch in the UEFA Cup’, from 16th February {click here}.

2008-’09 UEFA Cup at Wikipedia {click here}.

Thanks to European Football Statistics {click here}.

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Note: The two maps are old content; new content can be seen in the assemblage below.  For best viewing of the Gallery below, click on the image below, then click once more after the gallery appears on it’s own page.

On Wednesday,  in Champions League Group G  {see standings here},  Arsenal visits the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey to face Fenerbahce {Click here, for a photo gallery from the WSoccer site}.  The Sukru Saracoglu Stadium,  which has had all four stands completely rebuilt in the last decade, will host this season’s UEFA Cup Final in May, 2009.

Thanks to erkagunes,  at flikr.com {Click here};  thanks to beepworld.de {Click here};  thanks to wsoccer.com {Click here}.

There are 7 clubs who played in the 07/08 UEFA Cup Group Stage,  and are returning this season… From England:  Tottenham.   From Germany:  Hamburg.   From Portugal:  Sporting Braga.   From Russia:  Spartak Moscow.   From Turkey:  Galatasaray.   From Croatia:  Dinamo Zagreb.   From Denmark:  Copenhagen.

After playing in the Champions League in 07/08,  Sevilla return to the UEFA Cup.  The Andalusian club won the UEFA Cup in consecutive years (in 2006 and 2007).

This is the 38th edition of the UEFA Cup,  and the 12th since the single-match final was established.  Here is a list of the last 11 finals {Click here}.   It is interesting to note that 10 of the 11 winners are either in this season’s Champions League,  or UEFA Cup;  the exception is 1999 UEFA Cup winners Parma.  Four of the clubs on the list are currently in the Champions League this fall (Internazionale,  Liverpool,  Porto,  and last season’s UEFA Cup champion,  Zenit St. Petersburg).  On the other hand,  six of the UEFA Cup runners-up from the last 11 seasons are not playing in Europe at all this season,  clubs that range from German giants Borussia Dortmund to the small Basque Country club Alaves;  and including the last three finals losers:  Middlesbrough (2006),  Espanyol (2007),  and Rangers (2008).  Talk about a setback.   This is the big risk of playing  in the UEFA Cup,  especially for smaller clubs without the resources to field a large squad.

Thanks to the EFS site for attendance figures.  I set the link to last season’s attendance figures from the 07/08 UEFA Cup {Click here}.

Click here, for the Champions League matchups (UEFA site).

The map now shows the last 8 clubs in the UEFA Cup.  As with the Champions League map, I have added club stats, and home and away kits.

Click here, for the UEFA Cup matchups {uefa[dot]com}.

Thanks to http://www.colours-of-football.com for the kits.

The only club that looks out of place in the final 16 are the Spanish upstarts Getafe {see this article}.  This is a club that had never been in the top flight before 2004.  They are based in a grim industrial area south of Madrid, that is ringed by highways.  Their fan base is comprised of a significant percentage of disenchanted ex-Atletico Madrid supporters.  I think these fans made the right decision to dissociate themselves from those chronic underachievers… Atletico were eliminated from this competition by stolid Bolton ’s smothering defense, while Atletico Madrid management showed incredibly poor form, by posting Bolton’s travel and hotel accomadations on their official website {see this article}. 

Here are the matchups for the Round of 16.  The first legs will be played on March 6, the second legs on March 12, and 13.  

Thanks to Wikipedia for the chart.