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August 11, 2011

Premier League, Attendance map for clubs in 2011-12 season.

Filed under: 2011-12 English Football,Eng>Premier League (Eng-1st Level) — admin @ 6:16 pm

Premier League – Results, fixtures, tables (Soccerway.com).

Here are all the clubs in the 2011-12 Premier League that had percent-capacities last season of above 90 percent-capcity (with average attendance from 2010-11 home league matches). [ Percent Capacity is arrived at this way...Average Attendance divided by Stadium Capacity equals Percent-Capacity. ] Also listed are each club’s average attendance last season, change from 2009-10, and how the club finished in 2010-11.
99.4%-capacity – Arsenal. Attendance (60,025 per game) was up +0.2 percent last season. 4th place finish/CL play-off spot.
99.1%-capacity – Manchester United. Attendance (75,109 per game) was up +0.3 percent last season. 2011-12 Premier League champions/Qualified for CL Group Stage.
98.6%-capacity – Tottenham Hotspur. Attendance (35,704 per game) was down -0.3 percent. 5th place finish/Europa League play-off spot.
98.3%-capacity – Fulham. Attendance (25.043 per game) was up +4.7 percent. 8th place finish/Europa League 1st qualifying round (via a Fair Play spot).
97.66%-capacity – Stoke City. Attendance (26,858 per game) was down -1.1 percent. 13th place/Europa League 3rd qualifying round (via FA Cup [finalist] spot).
97.61%-capacity – Chelsea. Attendance (41,435 per game) was up +0.3 percent last season. 2nd place finish/Qualified for CL Group Stage.
97.57%-capacity – Norwich City. Attendance (25,386 per game) was up +2.9 percent. 2nd place in 2nd Level/Promoted.
96.8%-capacity – Manchester City. Attendance (45,905 per game) was up +0.9 percent. 3rd place finish/FA Cup title/Qualified for CL Group Stage.
95.3%-capacity – Wolves. Attendance (27,925 per game) was down -1.6 percent. 17th place finish.
94.6%-capacity – Liverpool. Attendance (42,820 per game) was down -0.1 percent. 6th place finish.
93.1%-capacity – West Bromwich. Attendance (24,683 per game) was up +11.2 percent. 11th place finish.
91.2%-capacity – Newcastle United. Attendance was up +10.0 percent. 12th place finish.
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Thanks to E-F-S site for attendance data.
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011-12 Premier League‘.

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August 5, 2011

English Football League Championship – attendance map and data for clubs in the 2011-12 League Championship season.

Filed under: 2011-12 English Football,Eng-2nd Level/Champ'ship — admin @ 7:18 pm

League Championship attendance map
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‘2011-12 Football League Championship‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
England – Championship, Resuits, Fixtures, Table (Soccerway.com).
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From Guardian.co.uk/Football League Blog, ‘Championship 2011-12 season preview: the bloggers’ view‘.
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On the map page, the map shows the locations of the clubs in the 2011-12 Football League Championship, which is the 2nd Level of English football. Flanking the map are the club crests of the 24 clubs in this season’s League Championship. The crests are sized to reflect the clubs’ 2010-11 average attendance (from home league matches). The larger the club’s average attendance, the larger the crest. On the left of the map page is a chart showing attendance data including 2010-11 average attendance, 2009-10 average attendance, percent-change from 09/10, stadium capacity, and percent-capacity. Each club’s movement (if any) in the past two seasons (up or down via promotion or relegation) is also shown on the chart.

Percent-capacity can be found on the chart in the column furthest to the right.
[Percent Capacity is arrived at this way...Average Attendance divided by Stadium Capacity equals Percent-Capacity.]

Below are the 10 clubs in the 2011-12 League Championship season that had a 70-percent-capacity or higher last season -

94.8%-capacity – West Ham United. Last spell in the second division lasted 2 seasons, from 2003 to 2005. The Hammers drew 31,167 per game in 03/04 in the second tier, then 27,403 per game in 04/05 when they got promoted out of the 2nd Level. That shows you that it is crucial for West Ham to get back to the Premier League this season, or see a 20 percent or so drop-off in fan support…not the best scenario if West Ham fails in their promotion-bid this season, then start playing in the White Elephant-with-running-track in 2012-13, with a dwindling fan support. What atmosphere will 27,000 generate in the 60,000 London Olympic Stadium ?
94.1%-capacity – Blackpool. Promoted in 2010 and relegated back to the Championship last season. Their now-fully renovated, 16,750-capacity Bloomfield Road was close to being completely full most of the time last season. Blackpool averaged 15,775 per game. It remains to be seen if the club can draw near that figure now that they are back in the second tier, and now that a large part of the starting squad from last year’s almost-fairy-tale season is gone. Ian Holloway has added striker Kevin Phillips to the team.
86.5%-capacity – Cardiff City. Played their first full season in the City of Cardiff Stadium (capacity 26,828), and being near the top of the table certainly contributed to their high attendance (23,194 per game). Now the squad has sputtered out at the end in two straight seasons, and new manager Malky Mackay has his work cut out for him.
84.8%-capacity – Birmingham City. A +0.9 percent increase from 2009-10 in average attendance (25,462 per game) as the West Midlands side began with the momentum of 09/10 [when they finished in 9th place in the Premier League]. En route to winning their second-only ‘major’ title by beating Arsenal 2-1 in the League Cup final in February, their form started dipping, and the Blues ended up on the wrong side of the log-jam at the bottom of the table. Maybe they would have avoided the drop if they shed their defensive shell once in a while. On the bright side, their new manager is Chris Hughton.
83.3%-capacity – Hull City AFC. It looks like Hull City has managed to maintain a considerable portion of their fan base after their 2-season stint in the Premier League, which ended in May 2010. Even though average attendance dropped minus-13.2% back in the Championship last year, the Tigers are still getting over 21,000 per game. This is how far the East Riding of Yorkshire club has come in a decade…10 seasons ago (2000-01), Hull City were a fourth division club drawing 6,684 per game. Now, after finally getting to the top flight, Hull are a mid-table second division club that gets over 20K a game.
83.1%-capacity – Brighton & Hove Albion. Gus Poyet has energized the squad and the 6 to 7 thousand Seagulls supporters who put up with the football purgatory that was the Withdean Stadium. And now their new stadium has energized the sleeping-giant fan base, and it looks like there will be close to sell-outs most every fortnight at Amex Stadium (capacity 22,500 for league matches). If they can avoid going straight back down, this south coast club will probably start drawing in the 18 to 20,000 range year-in, year-out. The club has made a couple good transfers: prolific striker Craig Mackail-Smith was bought from Peterborough for a club-record 2.5 million pounds; and MF Will Buckley was bought from Watford for 1 m. pounds {see this article from The Two Unfortunates from June 2011, by Lloyd, ‘The Monday Profile: Will Buckley‘.
77.5%-capacity – Derby County. Despite the decent percent-capacity number, average attendance (26,023 per game) was down over 3,000 per game from 2009-10, after another lackluster year for the Rams, who finished in 19th place. Derby supporters have got to be wondering about the ambition of the American ownership group.
76.1%-capacity – Nottingham Forest. Even though the club was in the promotion race all season, average attendance was still down minus-2.3 percent, to 23,275 per game. Maybe Forest fans could sense the impending post-season collapse, where, just like the season before, they looked bereft of ideas. The club’s new manager is Steve McClaren.
75.9%-capacity – Portsmouth. With a thread-bare squad after their near-financial meltdown, manager Steve Cotteril found a way to keep Pompey out of the relegation battle, with a 16th place finish, and the club drew 15,707 per game at the 20,700-capacity Fratton Park. Things like signing Luke Varney (for 1 m. pounds) are good signs from management.
73.1%-capacity – Reading. Their solid academy produces the talent to keep the Berkshire club living within their means and staying near the top of the table. It feels like one of these seasons, Reading will find a way to get back to the Premier League. They just fell short of promotion last season, losing 4-2 to Swansea City in an extremely entertaining play-off final at Wembley in May. Reading’s !7,682 per game average attendance at the 24,200-capacity Madejski Stadium was a 1.6 percent increase.

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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011–12 Football League Championship‘.
Thanks to European-Football-Statistics site, for attendance figures.
Thanks to FootballGroundGuide.com, for stadium capacities.

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August 4, 2011

English Football League One – attendance map and data for clubs in the 2011-12 League One season.

Filed under: 2011-12 English Football,Eng-3rd Level/League One — admin @ 7:01 am

League One attendance map

League One – Results, Fixtures, Table (Soccerway.com).
‘2011–12 Football League One‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
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Note: to see my latest map-&-post of the English 3rd division, click on the following, Eng-3rd Level/League One.
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As I mentioned in my League Two post {here}, 5 clubs in the 2011-12 League One had a percent-capacity (for home league matches) of 60% or higher, last season [2010-11]. Here are the five…
67.0%-capacity – Chesterfield. A brand-new stadium (B2net Stadium, capacity 10,400) and a season-long-spell near the top of the table was a winning combination for the Spireites, who drew 6,972 per game in 2010-11. Chesterfield manager John Sheridan now has the task of making Chesterfield a viable third division side. The North Derbyshire club’s last spell in the 3rd Level lasted 6 seasons from 2001-02 to 2008-07, but Chesterfield never finished higher than 16th place.

66.4%-capacity – AFC Bournemouth. After avoiding financial meltdown, Bournemouth won promotion from League Two in 2010. The club lost manager Eddie Howe to Burnley in Jan. 2011, but still maintained good form and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost to Huddersfield Town in the first round. Caretaker manager Lee Bradbury got a 2 and-a-half year deal. The Cherries drew a solid 7,103 to their 10,700-capacity Dean Court.

63.1%-capacity – Sheffield United. A season from hell in South Yorkshire for Blades fans. Sheffield United sacked manager Kevin Blackwell after 3 games, hired Gary Speed, then he up and left them for the Wales job in December. The Blades never recovered. The solidity of the club’s fan base shows in their half-decent percent-capacity figure. They drew 20,632 per game to their 32,702-capacity Brammall Lane. Well, getting the drop to the third tier while still drawing over 20,000 per game worked out, in the end, for Norwich City. Blades supporters should just roll with it and treat this as an opportunity to finally visit places like Yeovil in Somerset, and Birkenhead in the Wirral [Tranmesre Rovers], and Carlisle in Cumbria.

61.07%-capacity – Exeter City. Exeter City, along with fellow League One club Brentford, are the highest-placed supporter-owned football clubs in England. Exeter City FC is wholly owned by Exeter Supporters Trust. The Grecians, despite their isolation in Devon, have been having a great run. Back-to-back promotions were followed last season by an impressive 8th place finish. Exeter drew 5,393 per game at their St. James Park, which has a capacity of 8,830. Attendance was actually down from 2009-10 (by minus-7.5%), but a good deal of that drop can be explained by the spate of cancellations and mid-week re-scheduled matches last winter, combined with Exeter’s isolated location.

60.4%-capacity – Scunthorpe United. Scunthorpe’s relegation was a blessing in disguise, because now the club doesn’t have to tear down a stand and re-build it as an all-seater. {See this, from Nov.2010, from The Two Unfortunates site, by Lloyd, ‘Keep Scunthorpe Standing‘}. Scunthorpe drew 5,548 per game last season at their 9,183-capacity Glanford Park. With up-and-coming manager Alan Knill (who played 130 games for Scunthorpe as a central defender in the 1990s), the club looks to be in a good position to compete for promotion once again. Maybe once they get back to the Championship and consolidate there, the Football League will have re-considered their rule that basically forces cash-strapped clubs to tear down perfectly good terraces. Germany does just fine with safe all-standing terraces, not just in the German second division (Bundesliga-2), but also in Bundesliga.
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Here are the clubs that the oddsmakers have tipped to be promotion favorites…
From Statto.com, English League One – Promotion Odds. Top pick to get promotion is Huddersfield Town (of course). Second best pick is Sheffield Wednesday, followed by Preston North End, Sheffield United, and Charlton Athletic.
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Hartlepool United’s cut-price season ticket scheme has been very successful, with the County Durham club selling 5,750 season tickets {See this, from HartlepoolMail.co.uk, ‘Pools season ticket push‘}. So Victoria Park, which has a capacity of just 7,787 for league games, will be seeing much higher percent-capacitry figures this season [note: their first home match on 13 Aug. drew 5,170]. Hartlepool is 41 km. (25 miles) SE of Newcastle, and has a population of around 90,000 {2006 figure}. Pools only drew 2,933 per game last season, and have been playing to mid-3,000-size crowds for half a decade now, yet have still managed to hang on in the third tier for 7 of their last 8 seasons. In the 2003-04 season, they drew 5,419, so it looks like some of those fans of the Monkey Hangers have come out of the woodwork for this deal.

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Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendance figures.
Thanks to the FootballGroundGuide.com, for stadium capacities.

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August 3, 2011

English Football League Two – attendance map and data for clubs in the 2011-12 League Two season.

Filed under: 2011-12 English Football,Eng-4th Level/League Two — admin @ 7:16 am

League Two Attendance Map
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[Note: to see my latest map-&-post of 4th division English football, click on the following, category: Eng-4th level/League Two.]
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I introduced this type of map and chart last year, but last season I only covered the top 2 divisions in England in this fashion. This post covers the English Football League Two, which is the lowest level in the Football League and is the 4th Level in the English football pyramid. At each season’s end, two clubs gain promotion into this level from the 5th Level (for this season, Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon) and two clubs are relegated out of League Two to Non-League Football and the Conference National (those 2 clubs were Lincoln City and Stockport County). Meanwhile, four clubs gain promotion from this level to League One, that is, from the 4th Level to the 3rd Level (those 4 clubs were Chesterfield, Bury, Wycombe Wanderers, and Stevenage). Finally, 4 clubs are relegated from League One to this level (those 4 clubs were Bristol Rovers, Dagenham & Redbridge, Plymouth Argyle, and Swindon Town).
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The map shows the locations of the clubs in the 2011-12 season of League Two. Flanking the map are club crests, with the crests sized to reflect 2010-11 average attendance (home league matches). The larger the average attendance, the larger the club’s crest. So, down at this level, most of the club crests are going to be pretty small. In case you are wondering why Bradford City has such relatively high attendance figures for this level, that is because Bradford City instituted a cut-rate ticket scheme 3 seasons ago, and their gates shot up well past the 10,000-per game mark. Even though this pricing scheme has been largely phased out, the crowd-sizes have not diminished that much there in West Yorkshire, despite the Bantams’ lackluster form of late (they finished in 18th place last season)

Percent-Capacity in the lower leagues
This is the first time I have listed percent-capacity statistics for the lower Leagues. On the chart, the far right column shows each League Two club’s percent-capacity figure from last season [ Percent-capacity is found this way...Average Attendance divided by Stadium Capacity = Percent-Capacity ].

Percent-capacity figures for most League Two clubs are usually at or below 50%-capacity. And where a 70-80 percent-capacity number would be a healthy figure for a League Championship club {see this post from August 2010}, and there are 10 clubs in the 10/11 Championship that are in the 70 to 80%+ category; and a where a 60-70 percent-capacity is a very healthy figure for a League One club, and there are 5 clubs in the 10/11 League One that are in the 60 to 70% category, the problem is that getting a percent-capacity figure above 70% or so when you are a fourth-division-club means the club has stadium issues. Namely, that the club won’t have room for growth, in terms of fan base size, if they are promoted – without a costly stadium expansion. And revenue is being lost, because such a high percent-capacity for a small stadium means that inevitably there will be sold-out matches, so average attendance begins to plateau. That is the problem AFC Wimbledon will face if they are able to consolidate their new-found status as a Football League club. A little-noted fact about AFC Wimbledon is that they had a drop-off of minus-2.8% in attendance last season. [The lack of an extra sell-out date because Oxford City was no longer in the Conference in 2010-11 certainly contributed to the fact that Wimbledon's average gate was below the previous seasons'.] Wimbledon drew 3,435 per game last season in the Conference at their Kingsmeadow ground, in southwest London near Surrey. Kingsmeadow only has a capacity of 4,772. So AFC Wimbledon had a 72.8%-capacity last season, which is the highest figure of all clubs in the 11/12 League Two (or the 11/12 League One, for that matter). The club would certainly have had a larger average attendance if their stadium was larger, because those sell-outs last season versus, say, Luton Town, would have drawn well over 5,000 [probably even 7,000] had the ground been larger. So Wimbledon faces the situation where they will be losing revenue because of inadequate stadium capacity. There is an expansion planned at Kingsmeadow in the near future, but AFC Wimbledon’s specific plans are still vague.

Second-best percent-capacity from last season of 2011-12 League Two clubs was by a club that actually was in a relegation battle last season – Northampton Town, who finished in 16th. The Cobblers’ decent 4,605 per game average attendance last season was boosted by a low-price youth ticket scheme the club had introduced last summer, plus by larger crowds attending some of the late-season relegation-battles at the Sixfields Stadium (capacity 7,653). Northampton had a 60.2%-capacity figure last season. Here is an article from NTFC.co.uk, about their good gate figures, ‘Sixfields Attendance On The Increase‘.

There are 3 other clubs in League Two this season that had percent-capacity figures near 60% last season…
Shrewsbury Town, at 59.5%-capacity. The Shropshire club, in yet another failed-promotion-run last season, have been drawing well since their New Meadow ground opened in 2007. STFC drew 5,876 per game last season in the 9,875-capacity ground.
Oxford United at 58.2%-capacity. Oxford United finished in 12th place in their first season back in the League, drawing 7,277 per game at their 12,500-capacity Kassam Stadium. That was second-highest in League Two last season.
The just-relegated Swindon Town, at 57.5%-capacity. This after a 2009-10 season that saw Swindon come agonizingly close to winning promotion the the League Championship, losing to Millwall 1-0 in the 2009-10 League One play-off final at Wembley. Last season, Swindon Town, helped by 9K and plus-10K gates at matches early on in the season, actually had a slight 0.8% increase in a season which ended up seeing them relegated. Swindon Town had an average attendance of 8,450 per game in their 14,700-capacity County Ground.

Odds for promotion
Not coincidentally, the three clubs with the highest wage bill in League Two this season are also the three highest-rated clubs to win promotion (by the bookmakers, at least). Those 3 clubs are Crawley town, Swindon Town, and Bristol Rovers.
From Statto.com, English League Two Promotion Odds.
Topping the list is actually Crawley Town, despite the West Sussex club having just been promoted from Non-League football for the first time. This is thanks to Crawley Town’s shadowy and deep-pocketed Far East investors. Last season, Crawley Town spent more on player transfers than any other club in their league or the division above them (ie, this division), and such lavish outlay for these levels continues at Crawley. Swindon Town is second-favorite for promotion, while Bristol Rovers, Oxford United, and Shrewsbury Town round out the top five best odds for promotion.
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Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendance figures.
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011-12 Football League Two‘.

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August 1, 2011

France: the 3 promoted clubs from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1, for the 2011-12 season (Évian TG, Ajaccio, Dijon).

Filed under: France — admin @ 7:04 am

The 3 promoted clubs in Ligue 1
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Note: to see my latest map-&-post of Ligue Un, click on the following: category: France.
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Two of the three clubs promoted to Ligue 1 will be making their top flight debuts – Ligue 2 champs Évian, and 3rd-place-finisher Dijon. Dijon secured promotion on the final day of the season, besting 4th-place-finisher Le Mans on goal difference, this despite losing their final match. The other promoted club is from the Island of Corsica – AC Ajaccio – and the club returns to Ligue 1 after a 6 season absence.

Actually, Évian Thonon Gaillard have won promotion for 2 consecutive seasons. Évian TG are from the Haute-Savoie department of the Rhône-Alpes Region of France and are situated in Gaillard, which is a border-town near Geneva, Switzerland. However, Ëvian TG currently play their home matches in Annecy, which is around 35 km. (22 miles) south of Évian’s headquarters in Gaillard. The stadium in Annecy is called the Parc des Sports, has a capacity of only 12,243, and has a running track. [The club also has, as part of their training facilities, a 2,000-capacity stadium in Gaillard.] Gaillard has a population of 11,000, and is part of the Greater Geneva metropolitan area. Geneva’s metro-area population is around 1.2 million [note: it's unclear how many Swiss citizens from the Geneva area go to Évian TG matches...I would guess of the 5,555 per game that Évian TG drew last season, less than 500 came from across the border in Switzerland. After all, it's a border crossing, and then another 35 kilometers, from Geneva to Annecy].

Évian Thonon Gaillard FC are a club that came into existence as the result of two different recent mergers, the first occurring in 2003, when FC Gaillard (established 1924) and FC Ville-la-Grand (established 1928) merged to form Football Croix-de-Savoie 74. Football Croix-de-Savoie 74 won promotion from the 4th division Championnat de France amateur in 2004 (in their first season), by finishing third, but still winning the sole promotion-spot for their regional league (Groupe B section) by virtue of finishing behind 2 ineligible-for-promotion teams (the teams that finished in 1st and 2nd place that year in Groupe B were the reserve squads of Oyimpique Lyon and FC Metz). Once in the 3rd division National, relegation was narrowly avoided in 2004-05, but Football Croix-de-Savoie 74 went back to the wilderness of the 4th division and the regional leagues in 2005-06.

2006-07 saw the club undergo another merger, this time with Olympique Thonon-Chablais, with the resultant club being known as Olympique Croix-de-Savoie 74. The club also moved their headquarters from Thonon-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva, around 34 km. (20 miles) west to Gaillard. In 2007-08, after being forced to play in the 6,000-capacity stadium back in Thonon, rather than their much smaller stadium in Gaillard, the club won promotion back to the 3rd division (the National). Here is a link to the news archive of the official Évian TG site, that shows several photos of the last match of the 2008-09 season, and the last time the club played in Thonon, and the last time the club played under the Croix de Savoie name, { http://www.etgfc.com/2009/06/03/les-photos-de-sete/ }.

In the summer of 2009, Franck Riboud, the president of the large French food products multinational corporation Groupe Danone (marketed as Dannon in North America and famous for yogurt products such as Yoplait, and Évian bottled water) was named the honorary president of the football club, and Groupe Danone acquired the club. It was then (2009) that the club changed it’s name to Évian Thonon Gaillard FC. It was also then that the club started wearing kits {see this} that look like an Évian water bottle (pink/white/sky-blue trim). In 2009-10, in the first year with the new name and the new look, Évian won promotion to the 2nd division. But again, thanks to promotion, the club was stuck playing in an inadequate stadium, and were forced to look elsewhere than the stadium in Thonon. For a while it appeared that Évian TG would begin play in August 2009 in the French second tier in Switzerland, in Geneva’s 30,000-seat Stade de Genève, but UEFA listened to complaints from Swiss second division club Servette FC (who play in that stadium [and who were recently promoted back to the Swiss top flight]). Despite the support of the French football federation (FFF), UEFA decreed that Évian were not allowed to play at Stade de Genève. So the club were forced to settle for the small stadium a half-hour’s drive south, in Annecy (note: en.wikipedia.org’s page on Annecy, {here} has a nice picture of a very old turreted stone building right on the water in the town-centre of Annecy). Annecy is on the shores of a smaller mountain lake, Lake Annecy, which is known as ‘Europe’s cleanest lake’.

In January, 2011, Évian beat French giants and then-reigning champions Olympique Marseille in the round-of-64 stage of the Coupe de France. In May, 2011, after completing their first season in the second division, Évian won their second consecutive promotion, and will now play their first season in the top flight in 2011-12.

Note: On the map page, the locations of Évian’s current home ground in Annecy, the club’s former headquarters and former home ground in Thonon, and the club’s current headquarters in Gaillard are shown. I’m guessing some folks out there are curious where the source of Évian mineral water is. Well, I balked at showing, on the map page, the source of Évian mineral water (that would set a precedent which would mean I would also have to show, say, where the Red Bull factories are located, on my map of football in Austria), but it’s a couple towns east of Thonon, in Évian-les-Bains {here}.

Évian TG have signed former Udinese centre back and Ghana international Jonathan Mensah to a 4-year deal, {see this (from GhanaSoccer.net) }. Former Lyon winger and French international Sidney Gouvou has been signed by Évian on a 2-year deal, as mentioned in the following link…From Bettor.com, ‘Ligue 1 special: A look at newly-promoted Evian Thonon Gaillard FC ‘.

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AC Ajaccio are the largest football club in Ajaccio, which is the largest city on the Island of Corsica. The population of Ajaccio is only around 65,000. [In case you are wondering, SC Bastia are the only other club from Corsica with any first division history; and the other sizable club from the city of Ajaccio is the 4th-division-club Gazélec Ajaccio.] AC Ajaccio play in red-and-white-vertically-striped jerseys. Athletic Club Ajaccien was formed in 1910, and their first ground was on the site of a former sand dump. They moved soon after to a ground which held 5,000 spectators, on which they played until 1969. Their current ground, the 10,600-capacity Stade François Coty, hasn’t made it that far from their sand dump days, though, as you can see by one of the photos on the map page here – some of the ‘seating’ there consists of concrete slabs. I think the folks watching the public stonings in the film Life Of Brian had better seating than those concrete slabs in Ajaccio. Sheesh. Anyway, AC Ajaccio will be making their first appearance in Ligue 1 since a 4-year-spell which lasted from 2002-03 to 2005-06 (where they never finished higher than 14th place). 2011-12 will be Ajaccio’s 11th season in Ligue 1. Ajaccio averaged 3,422 per game last season in Ligue 2, and their highest recent average attendance was in 2002-03, when they drew 4,840 per game. That’s dire, but remember, the club plays in a city of less than 70,000. And despite having the smallest operating budget in Ligue 1 this season (of just 16 million Euros), Ajaccio have made a pretty big signing in luring over from Mexico City the former Club América goalkeeper and Mexican international Guillermo Ochoa. From Bettor.com, ‘Guillermo Ochoa snubs Paris Saint-Germain to join AC Ajaccio‘.

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Dijon FCO are another club that owe their recent rise to a merger. In 1998, Circle Dijon Football and Dijon FC merged to form Dijon Football Côte-d’Or. It’s actually way more complicated than that, but I have still got a headache from untangling Évian TG’s origins, so you must forgive me if I simply direct you to the Dijon FCO ‘Arbre généalogique‘, or family tree, at the fr.wikipedi.org page on Dijon, {here}. Dijon FCO are from the Côte-d’Or departement of the Region of Burgundy, 262 km. (162 miles) south-east of Paris, and 174 km. (108 miles) north of Lyon. The city of Dijon has a population of around 151,000 {2008 figure}. Dijon play in all red kits, and their kit badge features an owl in flight. Dijon FCO are renovating their Stade Gaston-Gérard in stages, and will next be in the fill-in-the-coirners stage. The stadium has a running track. Stade Gaston-Gérard used to be a 9,000-capacity stadium, and currently it holds 16,000. I had a real hard time getting any aerial images of the stadium as it currently looks, let alone any decent photos of any of the new stands, so the Dijon fansite at the following link really saved the day…Photo of Tribune Nord and Tribune Est from StadeDijonfootball.unblog.fr, here, here. Here is one of those architect’s renderings of what Dijon’s renovated stadium is planned to look like {from dfco.fr, {click here for architect’s rendering – to see it, scroll down to bottom of page and click on image}. [Note, I could not find any projected-completion-date for the renovated stadium.] Dijon were drawing around 3,500 per game in 2008-09; around 5,400 per game in 2009-10; and increased their crowds again to about 7,500 per game last season, so this is a club that has a fan base that is growing at a nice pace. And the club’s ambition is evident in their stadium redevelopment, which will result in a 22,000-seat stadium that is fully covered and will have no running track. Hooray for that.
Dijon will be keeping a considerable amount of players from last season. Still, they have done OK in the transfer market, signing former Bolton centre back and Côte d’Ivoire international Abdoulaye Meite, and Japan international Daisuke Matsui, a winger who has played in Ligue 1 for Le Mans, Saint-Étienne and Grenoble.
From Bettor.com, ‘Ligue 1 special: A look at newly-promoted Ligue 1 side Dijon FCO ‘.

Photo credits -
Évian Thonon Gaillard…Aerial photo of Parc des Sports d’Annecy) by Lucien Fortunati at TDG.ch [Tribune de Genéve], here. Exterior photo from Ville dÁnnecy via leDauphine.com, here. Photo of stand with mountains of the Apls behind it from euro.Stades.ch, here. Photo of fans in Main Stand from the official site ETGFC.com, here.

Dijon FCO…Aerial image of Stade Gaston Gérard [before construction of Tribune Nord (North Stand)] from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here. Interior photo of renovated Stade Gaston Gérard from Info-Stades.fr/forums, here. Photo of Tribune Nord and Tribune Est from StadeDijonfootball.unblog.fr, here, here..

AC Ajaccio…Aerial photo of Stade François Coty by Michel Luccioni at Cosematin.com, here. Interiotr photo of stade François Coty from JungleKey.fr, here.Photo stands at Stade François Coty by Julia&Stoffi at EuroStadiums.com, here. Photo of Ajaccio fans with banners from frenchFootballWeekly.wordpress.com, here.

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011-12 Ligue 1‘.
Thanks to Ligue 2 site, for attendance figures, here.
Thanks to Soccerway.com, for the 2010-11 Ligue 2 final table.
Thanks to Yahoo! Babelfish for French translation.
Thanks to the Évian TG site [in French].

Comments (6)

July 30, 2011

Germany: the 2 clubs promoted from Bundesliga-2 to 2010–11 Fußball-Bundesliga.

Filed under: Germany — admin @ 1:10 pm

2 clubs promoted to Bundesliga

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Once again, there were just two clubs gaining promotion to Bundesliga, as the Relegation play-off saw 16th-place-finisher Borussia Mönchengladbach defeat the Bundesliga-2 3rd-place-finisher VfL Bochum. Hertha Belin and FC Augsburg were the promoted clubs. For Hertha, it is an immediate return to the top flight; for Augsburg, it will be their first division debut.

Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892 are a pretty large club that, as the largest football club from Berlin, draw in the 45K to 55K range. Hertha Berlin drew 46,131 per game in the second tier last season; 46,681 per game in 09/10 when they were relegated; and in 08/09, when they had a title run that saw them eventually sputter out and finish in 3rd place, they drew 52,157 per game – which was 5th-best-in-Germany that season. What Hertha Berlin can’t do is win a title, and the club is kind of a running joke in the German football scene. They are sort of like the hapless, choking pre-2004 Boston Red Sox (of Major League Baseball), but with an old stadium (Olympic Stadium, capacity 74,500; opened in 1936) that’s not picturesque and cozy and unique like the Red Sox’ Fenway Park, but rather, pretty soul-less, in a monolithic way. Plus Olympic Stadium (Berlin) features the dreaded running track (in creepy Prussian blue), dampening the atmosphere even more. No wonder Hertha Berlin haven’t won a title in the 7 decades since they’ve set up shop in this stadium, what with the ghosts of the Third Reich and the Nazi-propaganda exercise that was the 1936 Berlin Olympics resonating from the architecture. Hertha Berlin’s only two titles were won decades before the Bundesliga was formed…in 1930 and 1931, when there was no national league in Germany, and the title was decided by a small cup format with teams comprised of the regional league winners [Bundesliga was formed in 1963-64]. Hertha Berlin have won 2 titles in recent times – 2 DFB-Ligapokal (German League Cup) titles, in 2001 and 2002, but that’s a title whose ‘value’ is similar to the English League Cup title. The closest Hertha Berlin has come to winning the Bundesliga title was in 1974-75, when they finished in 2nd place, 6 points behind Mönchengladbach. Here are more photos of Olympic Stadium (Berlin), from the Extreme Groundhopping site, ‘Olymipiastadion [3 April, 2007]‘.

FC Augsburg 1907 are from Augsburg in Bavaria, 57 km. (35 miles) north-west of Munich. Augsburg has a population of around 264,000 {2010 figure}. FC Augsburg have spent the bulk of their existence fluctuating between the 2nd and 3rd divisions, but a decade ago were mired in the 4th division, in the Bayernliga IV for 2 seasons, gaining promotion back to the third tier in 2002. The squad returned to full-professional status in 2006, and in July 2009, their new Impuls Arena was opened. The stadium is now called SGL Arena, and has a capacity of 30,660. It looks like a pretty nice place to watch a football match, with all mod cons, seating tight to the pitch and the angle of the seats pretty steep (ie, good sight lines). I like Augsburg’s kit badge, because it is so simple and has a tree in it that looks more like a theatrical prop than a real tree. Augsburg play in all-white kits with red and green trim, and this season they will have an away kit that features a big black A on the white jersey. Augsburg’s fan base has swelled significantly in the decade since escaping the 4th division. The club were only drawing in the 2,000 range when they returned to the 3rd tier in 2001-02, and 4 years later, in 2005-06, they were drawing 4,482 per game. The next season was a promotion-year, and attendances shot up +12,000, to 16,639 per game. So as you can see, that’s when the club decided to build a new stadium, and their timing could not have been better, now that they have finally won promotion to the big-time stage that is Bundesliga. Augsburg averaged 20,481 per game last season, and will probably play to close-to or at a full house capacity of 30,000 or so this season. However, just staying in the top flight might be a real challenge for Augsburg this season, because Augsburg does not have mad money to throw around like another, recent, promoted-from-seemingly-nowhere-club (Hoffenheim). From Bundesliga Fanatic site, ‘FC Augsburg Season Preview: Hope and Excitement Amidst Modest Expectations‘.

Photo credits -
Hertha Berlin…Photo of exterior of Olympic stadium from pingallery.deviantart.com, here. Photo of interior of Olympic Stadium by Kandice at Panoramio.com, here. Photo of Hertha fans in Ost Curve by Matthias Kern/Bongarts/Getty Images via BleacherReport.com, here. Aerial image of Olympic Stadium from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

FC Augsburg…Aerial photos of impuls arena by Gberstel at Panoramio.com, here. Interior photo of impuls arena by Andinem at de.wikipedia.org, here.

Thanks to the contributors of the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011–12 Fußball-Bundesliga‘.
Thanks to European-Football-Statistics.co.uk for attendance figures, here.
Thanks to Soccerway.com for the Bundesliga-2 table.
Thanks to Maps-of-Germany.co.uk for the base map.

Comments (2)

July 26, 2011

Spain: final table of 2010-11, with clubs playing in Europe in UEFA competitions for 2011-12 / Plus, map with location of clubs in 2011-12 La Liga, with attendance data.

Filed under: Football Stadia,Spain — admin @ 8:45 pm

Spanish clubs playing in Europe
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Note: to see my latest post on Spanish football, click on the following, category: Spain.
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The first chart (click on image above) shows the 7 Spanish clubs who qualified for Europe for 2011-12, including the 3 clubs which have qualified for the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League Group Stage – FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, and Valencia CF.
The 6 Barcelona/Real Madrid match-ups this past season produced reams of headlines, and lots of histrionics…and in the end, Real Madrid – on paper – ended up 4 points shy of the Spanish title. But the actual gulf between Barcelona and Real Madrid is probably better depicted by the 5-0 trashing that Barça gave Real Madrid in November at Camp Nou. And sure, in the Spanish Cup competition, Real did eliminate Barça and then go on to win the Copa del Rey, but that’s the same trophy (with about the value of the English League Cup) that Real Madrid could have cared less about winning 5 or 10 or 15 years ago (it was Real Madrid’s first Copa del Rey title in 18 years).

At the top, left of the chart you can see photos and stats of the 7 Barcelona players most responsible for Barça’s offensive mastery and domination in both Spain and Europe – midfield general Xavi, greatest-player-on-Earth Lionel Messi, young phenom Pedro, attacking defender Dani Alves, scoring machine David Villa, midfield wizard Andrés Iniesta, and young talent Bojan Krkić [note: Roma purchased Bojan Krkić on 22 July for 12 milion Euros].. Manager Pep Guardiola is shown being tossed up into the air in celebration [I know, the photo is from 3 seasons ago, but I think the image really symbolizes FCB's über-champion-status these last few seasons].
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That the cash-strapped Valencia were still able to win an automatic Champions League Group Stage berth is pretty impressive. So too is Villarreal’s return to the Champions League format. Villarreal proved that a club can have a long Europa League campaign and not see their domestic form suffer. El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarines), from a town of 51,000, made it all the way to the Europa League Semi-finals last season, yet were still able to keep hold of 4th place in La Liga, and that fourth CL spot. And thanks to past Champions League accomplishments (including being 2005-06 CL Semi-finalists and 2008-09 CL Quarter-finalists), Villarreal, and not Udinese, are a seeded team in the Play-off round draw, which will be on 5 August {see this}.

The 3 Spanish clubs that will be in the Europa League format are three clubs that all finished with 58 points – Sevilla FC, Athletic Club [Bilbao], and Club Atlético de Madrid [La Liga does not use goal difference as the first tie-breaker in the final standings, but rather head-to-head results]. Here is the list, which includes Sevilla and Bilbao, of teams that have qualified so far for the Europa League play-off round {see this}. Before that, Atlético Madrid must play in the Europa League Third qualifying round (1st Legs are on 28 July), and here are the match-ups – ‘2011-12 UEFA Europa League/Third qualifying round‘. Atlético Madrid will face the Norwegian club Strømsgodset IF.

[Note: to see a larger image of Sevilla FC's Art Deco mosaic at Estadio Ramón Sanchez Pizjúan, scroll down to the Sevilla section in the Photo credits below...]

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Below is the second chart, which features a location-map of the 20 clubs that will be playing in the 2011-12 La Liga, as well as attendance data of these clubs from last season – including average attendance (home league matches), percent-capacity, and percentage-change in attendance from 2009-10.

Photo credits -
Barcelona…
Photo of Xavi by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here. Photo of Lionel Messi by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here.
Interior photo of Camp Nou from ontd-football.livejournal.com/, here. Photo of Pedro by David Ramos/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here.
Photo of Dani Alves from Goalstage.com, here. Photo of David Villa by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here. Photo of Andrés Iniesta by David Ramos/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here. Bojan Krkic photo from FCBarcelona.com/Photo Gallery, here.
New Barça jersey [2011-12 home jersey] from store.Nike.com.
Photo of Pep Guardioa being tossed airborne by Barça players by Tony Gentile/Reuters, here.
Aerial image of Camp Nou from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Real Madrid…
Photo of Ultras Sur (far right-wing Real Madrid supporter-group) with flags and banners was unattributed at Taringa.net, here. Exterior photo of Estadio Santiago Bernebeu was unattributed from TheOffside.com, here. Aerial photo of Estadio Santiago Bernebeu from RealMadridVideos.wordpress.com, here.

Valencia…
Photo of Valencia fans from PatCrerand.co.uk, here. Photo of Mestalla at sunset from EUtravelpictures.com, here. Aerial photo of Mestalla from Rudsoccer.om, here.

Villarreal...
Interior photo of El Madrigal from VillarrealCF.es, here. Close-up-aerial photo of El Madrigal from VillarrealCF.es, here. Aerial photo of El Madrigal from FussballTempel.net, here.

Sevilla…
Photo of interior of Estadio Rámon Sánchez Pizjuán by inkboo at Flickr.com, here. Photo of mosaic on exterior wall of Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán by Paco Alfaro at Flickr.com, here. Aerial image of Estadio Ramón Sanchez Pizjuan [with view to the east] from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
[Note: you can see a larger size image of the Sevilla FC mosaic by clicking here (photo by Paco Alfaro @ Flickr.com, here).

Athletic Bilbao...
Photo of Athletic Club Bilbao-supporter-group Albertzale Sur with banners and Basque flags from forums.PESfans.com, here [2/3 of way down page]. Photo of exterior of San Mamés from adjacent rooftop by kammourewa at Photobucket.com, here. Aerial image of San Mamés from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Atlético Madrid…
Photo of Atlético Madrid fans from LiverpoolSite.com, here. Interior photo of Estadio Vicente Calderon by FDV at es.wikipedia.org, here. Aerial image of Estadio Vicente Calderón from Peñatleticaniano.es, here.

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘La Liga‘.
Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendances.
Thanks to Demis.nl for the base map of Spain, from Demis Web Map Server.
Thanks to FCBarcelona.com/Squad, for stats.

Comments (2)

July 22, 2011

Cyprus: Cypriot First Division – map showing clubs in the 2011-12 season, with 2010-11 attendances and all-time titles list.

Filed under: Cyprus — admin @ 5:56 pm

Cypriot 1st Division
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The population of the Republic of Cyprus is around 803,000. The population of the Republic of Northern Cyprus is around 108,000 {both those figures are 2010 estimates}. As tiny and ethnically-partiitioned as it’s population is, Cyprus is home to a league that is currently ranked #20 in Europe by UEFA [May 2011 ranking], and will be ranked at #17 for 2012 {UEFA league coefficients, here}. That league is the Cypriot First Division, which was established in 1934-35. The two clubs that have pushed up the Cypriot league coefficient the most in recent years are APOEL, who qualified for the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League Group Stage; and Anorthosis Famagusta, who qualified for the 2008-09 Champions League Group Stage.

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A brief history of the events leading up to the partition of Cyprus

Since 1974, the island of Cyprus has been de facto partitioned. This was following an invasion in July 1974 by Turkey, which was preceded by a failed coup attempt in the spring of 1974 that was backed by a Greek military junta.

At present, 59% of the island of Cyprus is under control of the Republic of Cyprus. 36% is under control of the Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is a nation that is diplomatically recognized by just one other nation – Turkey. The remaining 5% of the land area of the island is split between the UN buffer zone running across the island, and two air bases which are allocated to the United Kingdom as sovereign military bases. This is a vestige of the British Empire’s administration of Cyprus, which began after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Britain formally annexed Cyprus.

It has been generally accepted that Greek Cypriots formed about 80% of the population of the island, while Turkish Cypriots formed about 18% (prior to Turkish settlers), with the remaining 2% being Christian minorities. In 1959, the Church of Cypress organized a referendum (boycotted by the Turkish Cypriot community), with over 90% voting in favor of enosis, or union, with Greece. The following year, 1960, Cyprus won independence after the Zürich and London Agreement between the United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey. The UK retained the two air bases (which are shown on the map here). The Turkish Cypriot minority retained a permanent veto option within the government. By 1963, inter-communal violence had broken out, and as the 1960s went on, the violence increased. Right-wing governments in Greece, starting in 1967, fanned the flames, and this situation (which was opposed by pro-democratic elements in Greece at the time) led to the the 1973 ascension to power of an even further right military junta in Greece…and an overthrow of the Cyprus government was high on their agenda. In the spring of 1974, the President of Cyprus, Makarios III, was forced to flee the island, with a coup led by Greek officers of the Cyprus National Guard. A firebrand, the parliamentarian and Nicosia newspaper editor Nikos Sampson, who was vehemently anti-Turkish Cypriot, was put in power (Sampson lasted 8 days in power and ended up being the only person tried and convicted of crimes related to the coup). This led to the Turkish air and sea invasion in July, 1974. The island of Cyprus is still partitioned to this day. From Parikiaki, Cypriot Weekly Newspaper [the leading Greek Cypriot newspaper published in London], from 20 April 2011, ‘Greek Junta blamed for Cyprus war‘.

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Photo credits – FootyLounge.com/forums . GSP.org.cy .

The Cypriot First Division

The Cyprus top flight is called the Cypriot First Division. The league has 14 clubs in it, and, since 2007-08, has featured a second round, where the league is split into 3 groups of four (with the bottom two clubs in the first round of the season being automatically relegated). The 3 groups are named Group A, Group B, and Group C. The 4 Group A clubs compete for the championship and spots in European play. The 4 clubs in Group B compete for nothing, really. The 4 clubs in Group C compete to avoid being the third relegated club.

Nicosia is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, with a metro area population (Southern part only) of around 313,000 {2009 estimate}. There are two pretty large-sized clubs from Nicosia – APOEL and Omonia – both of whom have fan bases that can fill GSP Stadium (the stadium they share/see images above) to around 9 or 10,000 per game in good seasons, and 6 or 7,000 per game in bad seasons. APOEL, whose acronym translates from the Greek as Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia, play in royal blue-and-yellow/orange-vertically-striped jerseys. Omonia, whise full name is Omonia Nicosia Athletic club, have a 3-leaf clover on their crest that looks very much like the crest of the Athens-based Panathinaikos, and wear white with green trim. For decades, the two have been competing for being the most-titled Cypriot club, with APOEL currently having the edge with 21 Cypriot titles, including the 2011 title. Omonia have won 20 titles, including the 2010 title. The third force in Cypriot football is Anorthosis Famagusta, a club that has been a refugee from it’s home base since 1974. Anorthosis Famagusta have won 13 titles, their last in 2008. Although Anorthosis Famagusta have a crest that features the traditional Greek colors of royal blue and white, they play with a yellow and black kit. Since the Turkish invasion, Anothosis have played in several locations including the capital, and Anorthosis Famagusta now play in the third-largest city in Cyprus, Lanarca, which, with a population of just 72,000, is a pretty small municipality to be hosting 4 Cypriot First Division clubs, as it will be in 2011-12. The other 3 top flight clubs in town are two that were formed there – Alki Lanarca and AEK Lanarca – plus a newly-promoted-back club, Nea Salamis Famagusta, who, like Anorthosis, are also a refugee club. Between these 4 top flight clubs they average a cumulative attendance of around 10-12,000 per game, with the black-and-yellow vertically-striped Anothosis Famagusta able to draw between 4-6,000 per game, the green-and-yellow kitted AEK Lanarca able to draw around 3-5,000 per game, the red-and-blue vertically-striped Alki Lanarca able to draw around 1-2,000 per game, and the red-and-white vertically-striped Nea Salamis Famagusta also able to draw around 1-2,000 per game. For a municipality of less than 75,000, Lanarca is providing a pretty credible amount of support for the 4 top flight clubs it hosts.

There are only 3 other clubs that have won titles in Cypriot football that are currently active, and two of them are from the second-largest city in Cyprus, Limassol. [Limassol is on the southern coast of Cyprus, and has a metro area population of around 228,000.] The fourth-most-titled club in Cyprus is AEL Limassol, with 5 titles (last in 1968). Tied for fifth on the all-time list are Apollon Limassol, with 3 titles (last in 2006), and Olympiakos Nicosia, with 3 titles (last in 1971). Apollon Limassol play in white with blue trim and can draw between a range of from 3 to 6,000 per game. Apollon won their last title 5 years ago. AEL Limassol, who wear yellow-and-navy-blue-vertical-striped jerseys, can also draw in that 3 to 6K range, but they haven’t won a title in 40 years. Olympiakos Nicosia play with green-and-black-vertically-striped jerseys and draw in the 1-2,000 range, and haven’t won a title in 43 years.

There is one other Cypriot title-winner that is an active club, but since that club is a Turkish Cypriot club, it has not been part of the Cypriot league set-up for a long time…since 1955, and currently play in the non-FIFA-sanctioned Birinci Lig. That club is Çetinkaya Türk SK.. This club, who now play in the partitoned Northern section of the city of Nicosia, won the 1950-51 season of the Cypriot First Division.
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There are 4 Cypriot teams still alive in Europe [as of 22 July 2011]. AEK Lanarca and Anorthosis Famagusta both won their Europa League Second qualifying round ties, and will compete in the Third qualifying round along with Omonia – the match-ups can be seen here {‘2011-12 UEFA Europa League/Third qualifying round‘}. Meanwhile, APOEL won their Champions League Second qualifying round tie, and will now play Slovan Bratislava in the next round, ‘2011-12 UEFA Champions League/Third qualifying round‘}.
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘Cypriot First Division‘.
Base map from ar.wikipedia.org, here.
Thanks to WorldTravels.com, for the Cyprus Country Map.

Comments (4)

July 14, 2011

Italy: final table of 2010-11 Serie A, with clubs playing in Europe in UEFA competitions for 2011-12 / Plus, map with location of clubs in 2011-12 Serie A, with attendance data.

Filed under: Football Stadia,Italy — admin @ 7:31 pm

Italian clubs playing in Europe in 2011-12
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(Note: to see my latest map-and-post on Italian football, click on the following, category: Italy.)
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From wsc.co.uk, on 1 Aug. 2011, by Geoff Bradford, ‘Italy’s match-fixing investigation will run and run‘.

Milan won their first Scudetto in 7 seasons under their first-year manager Masimilliano Allegri. Allegri was hired after two successful seasons at the small provincial club Cagliari Calcio. Under Allegri, the Sardinia-based Cagliari finished in 9th place twice despite minimal resources, earning Allegri 2 straight Panchina d’Oro (Golden bench) awards, which are voted on by Serie A managers. Milan hired Allegri in June 2011. Allegri shored up Milan’s defense, and a solid back four built around Centre Back Thiago Silva, plus a very good year for Zlatan Ibrahimović (who scored 14 goals and recorded 11 assists), helped Milan secure the title after 5 consecutive seasons in which the Scudetto was in the hands of their local rivals Internazionale.

The first chart (click on image above) shows the 7 Italian clubs who have qualified for Europe in 2011-12, including the 3 that have automatically qualified for the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League Group Stage – Milan, Internazionale, and Napoli. Milan won the European title most recently in 2007 (Milan have won 6 European titles). Internazionale won the European title two seasons ago in 2010 (Inter have won 3 European titles). Napoli have no European titles, although they did win the 1989 UEFA Cup. Napoli return to the Champions League-level of the European format for the first time since 1990-91, when the Maradona-less squad exited in the 2nd round of the European Cup to Spartak Moscow.

Udinese beat out Lazio for 4th place on goal difference, and now have shot at making their second appearance in the Champions League Group Stage (their first appearance was in 2005-06, when they finished 3rd in their group). But they are an unseeded team in the draw, so Udinese might end up playing a huge club like Arsenal or Bayern Munich. The draw is set for 5th August, see this ‘2011-12 UEFA Champions League/Play-off round‘, from en.wikipedia.org.

The three Italian clubs who have qualified for 2011-12 UEFA Europa League qualifiers are: 5th place finisher Lazio, 6th place finisher Roma, and 8th place finisher Palermo, who, as Coppa Italia finalists, inherited the Coppa Italia winner’s spot (from Internazionale).

Palermo play the first leg of their Europa League 3rd qualifying round on Thursday, 28 July. The draw is on 15 July, with Palermo being in the category of seeded teams {see this}.

For Lazio and Roma, they will play in the Europa League Play-off round – to see the teams qualified so far {click here}. Draw for the Europa League Play-off round is 5 August.
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One note: Juventus opens their new, 42,500-capacity stadium, temporarily being called Juventus Arena on 8 September, {see this, from Serie A official site [in Italian]}
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Below is the second chart, which shows the locations of the 20 clubs in the 2011-12 season of Serie A. Listed are average attendances (home league matches), along with percent-change and percent-capacity data, from last season (2010-11).

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Photo credits -
Milan…
Photo of Milan supporters’ giant banners at San Siro originally from UltrasMilan.it, via European Ultras.com, here. Photo of interior of San Siro by Alessandro Mogliani at en.wikipedia.org, here. Photo of Massimiliano Allegri by Giusseppe Cacaace/AFP via Sports.Yahoo.com, here.
Photo of Zlatan Ibrahimović by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here. Photo of Alexandre Pato from OleOle.com, here.
Photo of Robinho by Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe via Zimbio.com, here. Photo of Thiago Silva by AP via DailyMail.co.uk, here.
Photo of 2011-12 Milan home jersey from forums.hardwarezone.sg, here. Exterior photo of San Siro from Kvitters.com, here.

Internazionale…
Photo of Inter fans with giant banner in Curva Nord of San Siro by batrax at Flickr.com, here. Interior photo of San Siro from SanSiro.net. Exterior photo of San Siro from Kvitters.com, here.

Napoli…
Photo of stands at Stadio San Paolo from StadiumVibe.com, here. Interior photo of Stadio San Paolo by Inviaggiocommons at en.wikipedia.org, here. Aerial image of Stadio San Paolo from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Udinese…
Photo of Udinese fans from Getty Images via IndiaTimes.com, here. Interior photo of Stadio Friuli by Martaudine at it.wikipedia.org, here. Aerial image of Stadio Friuli from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Lazio…
Photo of Lazio fans in Curva Nord by Andrea Buratti at en.wikipedia.org, here. Second photo of Lazio fans from EuropeanUltras.com, here. Aerial image of Stadio Olimpico from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.

Roma…
Photo of Roma fans in Curva Sud of Stadio Olimpico from ASRomaLive.com, here. Interior photo of Stadio Olimpico during an AS Roma match by Gaúcho at de.wikipedia.org, here. Aerial image of Stadio Olimpico from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s eye satellite view, here.

Palermo…
Photo of Palermo fans from Getty Images via IndiaTimes.com, here. Interior photo of Stadio Renzo Barbera from StadionWelt.de via FussballTempel.net, here. Aerial image of Stadio Renzo Barbera by Vito Ruggiero at Panoramio.com, here.

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2011-12 Serie A‘.
Thanks to European-Football-Statistics site for attendance figures.
Thanks to Eric Gaba for the base map of Italy, ‘Italy topographic map-blank.svg‘.

Comments (3)

July 8, 2011

Minor League Baseball: the New York-Penn League (Class A-Short Season).

Filed under: Baseball,Baseball: MiLB Class A — admin @ 8:34 pm

New York-Penn League (Short Season A)

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The New York-Pennsylvania League is a minor league baseball league that is almost universally known as the New York-Penn League. Although part of the Class A level of minor league baseball, it is, along with the Northwest League, classified as a Short-Season A league. And they really are short seasons – the New York-Penn league regular season consists of 74 games played by each of the 14 teams in the circuit. By way of comparison, the Class A Midwest League plays 138 games in a season, and the Advanced-A California League plays 140 games in a season. The other Short Season A league – the Northwest League – plays 76 games in a season, and has 8 teams.

The shorter season and the player restrictions (see below) contribute to the fact that Short Season A leagues are viewed as effectively one level lower than the two Class A leagues (the South Atlantic League and the Midwest League) and two levels below the three Advanced-A leagues (the California League, Florida State League, and the Carolina League).

from en.wikipedia.org –
“Player limits and requirements for the New York-Penn League…
New York – Penn League teams may have no more than 3 players on their active lists that have 4 or more years of prior combined Major League / Minor League service, with the exception of position players changing roles to become a pitcher or a pitcher changing into a position player. Teams may get to eliminate up to one year of time of Minor League service for players who have spent time on the disabled list.
By July 1 of each year, all clubs must have at least 10 pitchers.
Maximum number of players under team control is 35, 30 of those may be active, but only 25 may be in uniform and eligible to play in any given game.”
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Last season, the New York-Penn League was the 6th highest-drawing minor league in Organized Baseball.
The New York-Penn League drew 3,490 per game in 2010, and had a better average attendance than 5 other minor leagues which are at a higher level.
Here are all the minor leagues’ average attendances for 2010 -
Average attendance of minor leagues in 2010…
International League (AAA) – 6,908 per game.
Pacific Coast League (AAA) – 6,120 per game.
Texas League (AA) – 5,264 per game.
Eastern League (AA) – 4,663 per game.
Midwest League (A) – 3,787 per game.
New York-Penn League (A-Short Season) – 3,490 per game.
South Atlantic League (A) – 3,306 per game.
Carolina League (A-Advanced) – 3,256 per game.
Mexican League (AAA) – 3,232 per game.
Southern League (AA) – 3,188 per game.
Northwest League (A-Short Season) – 2,920 per game.
California League (A-Advanced) – 2,237 per game.
Pioneer League (Rookie) – 2,158 per game.
Appalachian League (Rookie) – 865 per game.
[Arizona League, Gulf Coast League, Dominican Summer League and Venezuela Summer League attendances not available]
[Numbers from Baseball-Reference.com].

Part of the reason for the popularity of the New York-Penn league with fans is that some franchises in the league have relocated to certain areas in the last decade…well-populated areas that have enough people that basically have embraced the lower-minor-league fan experience. Specifically, those areas are Greater New York City; Greater Boston, MA; and Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore, MD. The teams that now sit at the top of the NY-Penn attendance list each season are the Brooklyn Cyclones (a New York Mets farm team), the Staten Island Yankees (a New York Yankees farm team), the Lowell Spinners (a Boston Red Sox farm team), and the Aberdeen Ironbirds (a Baltimore Orioles farm team). All 4 of these ball clubs regularly draw over 5,000 per game, and Brooklyn and Aberdeen drew over 6,500 per game last season. The Brooklyn Cyclones play in Coney Island and drew 7,147 per game to their MCU Park (MCU Park in Brooklyn, from en.wikipedia.org,{see this}. That was good enough for the 15th best attendance in all of minor league baseball in 2010 [list of all 334 teams' attendances in minor league baseball in 2010 {click here} (Ballparkdigest.com}.Those are astounding numbers for a league that is 5 steps below the Major Leagues. Over half of the 30 Triple-A ball clubs didn't draw that well in 2010...18 Triple-A teams drew below that 5,300 per game figure that these New York-Penn teams drew above...
The Brooklyn Cyclones (7,147 per game at MCU Park/15th best in MiLB).
The Aberdeen Ironbirds (6,548 per game at Ripken Stadium {see this}/22nd best in MiLB).
The Staten Island Yankees (5,806 per game at Richmond County Bank Ballpark {see this}/34th best in MiLB).
The Lowell Spinners (5,446 per game at Edward A. LeLacheur Park {see this}/44th best in MiLB).

And the success of teams like this has blown away the received wisdom that minor league baseball teams cannot survive within close proximity to Major League Baseball teams. With the low prices of an outing to a NY-Penn League game, the opposite is pretty much true now. For example, why pay an arm and a leg to see a game at the elitist and over-priced Yankee Stadium, when a fun and affordable outing at the Staten Island Yankees or the Brooklyn Cyclones ball park can be had for a fraction of the cost. Besides, you can just see the next Yankees or Mets game on television anyway.

The only loser in this state of affairs are the small towns and cities that have lost New York-Penn League teams in recent years, like Geneva, NY; Watertown, NY; Oneonta, NY; Utica, NY; and Pittsfield, MA. But the fact is, if there are larger crowds to be had elsewhere, you can't criticize the franchises for pulling up stakes and seeking greener pastures. Most of the municipalities that lose lower minor league teams find replacement ball clubs in independent minor leagues from outside the Organized Baseball set-up. Personally, I hope that the current smallest municipality with a ball club in the New York-Penn League, the Batavia Muckdogs, does not fall to the same fate and relocate, but that is because Batavia, whose population is only around 16,256 {figure from 2006} is nearby my home in Rochester, NY, and I have seen around 15 or so Batavia Clippers games (that was their old name before 1997) and Batavia Muckdogs games. And I have had a blast each time, and have never spent more than $25 per game there (including ticket), no matter how much I ate and drank. Now that's value. [The only reason the Batavia Muckdogs, the oldest member of the New York-Penn League [with a team consecutively since 1961] have not moved elsewhere is that Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. which runs the Triple-A ball club the Rochester Red Wings, took over operation of the Muckdogs two seasons ago. The Rochester Red Wings are the second largest sports franchise in North America that is completely supporter-owned – the largest being the NFL’s Green Bay Packers.]
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Photo credits -
Aberdeen IronBirds/Ripken Stadium…Photo from LittleBallparks.com, here.
Brooklyn Cyclones/MCU Park [formerly Keyspan Park]…Photo from Uncle Bob’s Ballparks 56 site, here.
Hudson Valley Renegades/Duchess Stadium…Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye Satellite view, here.
Staten Island Yankees/Richmond County Bank Ballpark…Aerial photo from Skyscrapercity.com, thread, ‘Little Ballparks‘.

Auburn Doubledays/Falcon Park…Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Batavia Muckdogs/Dwyer Stadium…Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Jamestown Jammers/Russell Diethrick Park…Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers/Eastwood Field…Photo from DigitalBallparks.com, here.
State College Spikes/Medlar Field at Lubrano Park…Photo from State College Spikes’ page at MiLB.com, here.
Williamsport Crosscutters/Bowman Field…Photo from ExplorePAhistory.com, here.

Connecticut Tigers/Dodd Stadium…Photo from CollegeBaseball360.com, here.
Lowell Spinners/LeLacheur Park…Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Tri-City ValleyCats/Joseph L. Bruno Stadium…Photo from U.W. Marx Construction Co. site, here.
Vermont Lake Monsters/Centennial Field…Photo from LittleBallparks.com, here.

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘New York-Penn League‘.

Thanks to David Kronheim at NumberTamer.com. Attendance figures from NumberTamer.com/ -Numbertamer.com’s Minor League Baseball – 2010 attendance analysis [pdf] (Note, league attendances begin on page 28 of the 60 page pdf.)

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