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October 7, 2008

UEFA Cup: 2008-2009 Group Stage.

Filed under: UEFA Cup / Europa League — admin @ 6:31 am

Here are the groups {Click here}. Here is the UEFA site’s description of the draw {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}.

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October 4, 2008

Scotland: Clubs in the 2008-’09 Scottish Premier League (with attendances from 07/08).

Filed under: Scotland — admin @ 7:25 am

The Scottish Premier League is currently playing it’s 17th season (this is the 112th season of 1st division professional Scottish football). Reigning champions are Celtic. Here is an overview of the 07/08 season, and a preview of this season, from http://www.betinf.com/prev_scott.htm.

Here is Wikipedia’s page on the Celtic/Rangers rivalry, aka “The Old Firm” {Click here}.

Scottish Premier League table {Click here (Soccer Stats site) }.

Thanks to the European Football Statistics site {Click here}.

Thanks to http://www.demis.nl for the base map.

Thanks to the Unprofessional Foul site {Click here}, which added my site to it’s blogroll this week.

PS, the map looked a little sparse, so I slapped togather a little chart with the 07/08 kits of all 12 clubs, listing their national titles and cups, and seasons in the Scottish top flight. Thanks to the RSSSF site for Hamilton Accies info {see this}. Thanks to the Colours Of Football site, for the kits {Click here}.

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September 30, 2008

NCAA Division I Football: Map- The 20 highest drawing teams (with 2007 attendance figures).

Filed under: NCAA Gridiron Football,NCAA/fb>attendance map — admin @ 5:11 pm

The Michigan Wolverines gridiron football team (and their fans) once again can boast of having the highest average attendance in all of American collegiate sports. The school is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is 44 miles west of Detroit, and has a population of around 114,000 (2000 census figure). The Ann Arbor campus has an enrollment of 42,042 (26,083 undergraduate students).

The Wolverines play in Michigan Stadium, which was built in 1927. It’s original capacity was 72,000; today it seats 107,501, and will be expanded to 110,000 by 2010. The stadium was standing room only last year… the Wolverines drew 110,264 per game in 2007, at 102.6% capacity.

Michigan played 8 games there last season, and were 5-3, the first loss coming to the tiny Appalachian State, Mountaineers, of Boone, North Carolina. Perhaps the Wolverines never fully recovered from that loss (one of the all-time biggest college football upsets. Below is a Sports Illustrated cover from last September- Click on the icon…

Michigan finished 9-4, and were ranked #18 in the final 2007 AP Poll.

Thanks to the NCAA site, for the attendance figures: {Click here for article; Click here for all 119 teams’ attendance figures (Note: numbers 120-138 on the list are from games teams played at alternate or secondary locations) [pdf file]}.

Thanks to CBS Sports site and Elite Deals site. Thanks to the [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania] Patriot-News site. Michigan map originally from Wikipedia.

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September 27, 2008

Romania: Liga 1, Clubs in the 2008-’09 Season.

Filed under: Romania — admin @ 5:39 pm

Romania’s Liga 1, at first glance, does not seem to be a league of much importance to the fan from abroad. After all, the league averaged only 5,349 fans per game last season. But the clubs from Romania who make it into European competitions have been extremely competitive, both historically and in recent years.

Currently, Romania is ranked 7th by UEFA, for play in Europe. The UEFA co-efficient rankings are calculated by the record of clubs in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup in the past five years. The rankings are used to determine how many clubs from each country will qualify to compete for places in future Champions League and UEFA Cup seasons. To see the current chart, {Click here}.

Sure enough, two weeks ago, a Romanian club made headlines for their play in Europe. The first round of matches in the 2008-’09 Champions League featured a noteworthy upset: an away victory by newcomers CFR Cluj over AS Roma, by a score of 1-2.

In May, CFR Cluj had won their first Romanian title. They were the first club from outside the capital, Bucharest, to win the title since Universitatea Craiova were champions in 1991. CFR Cluj ended up winning the domestic double , as they also won the 2008 Romanian Cup. Here is an article on CFR Cluj (and another unlikely Champions League success story, Anorthosis Famagusta, of Cyprus) from Friday, 19th September {Click here (CNN World site)}.

Here is a photo gallery and article on CFR Cluj, from the BBC Sport site {Click here}.

Cluj-Napoca is a city of around 310,000 in north-central Romania. It is the capital of the historical province of Transylvania . The city boasts the largest university in the country, and since Romania’s entry into the European Union, in January 2007, the city has become the country’s technopolis, attracting a large share of software outsourcing {see this (from informationweek.com) }. CFR stands for Caile Ferate Romane (which is the national railway of Romania). CFR Cluj had previously been in the top tier of Romanian football for just 7 years (1969-1976). Young tycoon Arpad Paszkany bought the then-third division CFR Cluj in early 2002, and promised to have the club in the first division in 4 years. They made it to the top flight in less than 2 years, in 2004.

Here is an article from last December, by Jonathon Wilson {Click here (The Guardian site) }, on CFR, the and their ambitious owner.

In 2007-’08, CFR won the title on the last day of the season, by one point. They beat their city rivals, the already-relegated Universitatea Cluj, 1-0, thus denying Steaua Bucharest the title. The club automatically qualified for the Champions League, as first place in Romania now goes straight into the Group Stage of the CL. In preparation for this, CR Cluj has just expanded and upgraded their 10,000 seat home ground to a 25,000 seat, 3-star UEFA stadium.

The Romanian clubs currently playing in Europe…

Steaua Bucharest are in the Champions League, Group F. [They are the club with the highest number of Romanian tiles (23, the last in 2006) and Romanian Cups (20, but none since 1999). The club was formed as the team of the Romanian Army in 1947 {see their page on Wikipedia, here}. Steaua won the 1986 European Cup, defeating FC Barcelona 2-0 on penalty kicks. {Click here for video (from a site called "Romania's Best").] Steaua Bucharest play away versus Fiorentina on Tuesday, 30th September.

CFR Cluj are in the Champions League, Group A. They play at home versus Chelsea on Wednesday, 1st October.

To see the UEFA site, set at the Champions League page {Click here}.

To see the match-ups in the UEFA Cup, 1st Round, from Wikipedia {Click here}.

There are 5 (!) Romanian clubs in the UEFA Cup, 1st Round…

Dinamo Bucharest. [Formed in 1948 as the team of the Romanian Interior Ministry, the club has won 18 Romanian titles (the last in 2007), and 12 Romanian Cups (last in 2005).] They trail NEC Nijmegen (of the Netherlands) 0-1, with the second leg in Bucharest on Thursday, 2nd October.

Rapid Bucharest. [Formed in 1923 by the merger of two clubs, under the aegis of the CFR (national railways); the club has won 4 Romanian titles (the last in 2003) and 13 Romanian Cups (the last in 2007).] They trail Wolfsburg (of Germany) 0-1; second leg in Bucharest on Thursday.

Politehnica Timasoara were the highest drawing Romanian club last season. They have a convoluted recent history {see this, from the Albion Road site}. In the UEFA Cup 1st Round, they trail Partizan Belgrade 1-2; second leg is in Serbia on Thursday.

SC Vaslui were founded in 2002, and first made it to the top flight in 3 years (a Romanian record). They are even at 0-0 with Slavia Prague (of the Czech Republic); second leg is in Vaslui on Thursday.

Unirea Urziceni are another recent arrival to first division football, being promoted in 2006. They hail from a town of just 17,000, east of Bucharest. They did well to hold the huge club Hamburg to a nil-nil draw, in Germany; second leg is Thursday in Urziceni.

Thanks to the European Football Statistics site {Click here}, for the attendance figures.

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September 24, 2008

Turkey: The Clubs in the 2008-’09 Super Lig.

Filed under: Turkey — admin @ 5:36 pm

Turkey’s Super Lig is currenty playing it’s 51st season. The reigning champions are Galatasaray.

The Big 3 of Turkey are all clubs from Istanbul…

Fenerbahce plays on the Asian side of the Bosporus Strait. Their name means “lighthouse garden”. The club draws extremely well (39,500 in ’07), and are a fixure in the Champions League. Their manager , since 2006, has been Brazilian great Zico. In the 07/08 CL, Fenerbahce finally advanced to the 2nd Round, where they beat Sevilla; they then lost to Chelsea in the Quarter-Finals. {Click here, for Wikipedia’s page on Fenerbahce.}

Galatasaray and Besiktas are both on the European side of the Bosporous. Besiktas draws much higher than Galatasaray (in 06/07, Besiktas drew 26,200; Galatasaray drew 16,300). But Galatasary are the more successful club. Their 17 titles equals Fenerbahce for the most in Turkey. The only other club to win the crown is the Black Sea club Trabzonspor, from northeast Anatolia. But they last won the title in 1984.

Below are two charts, both originally from Wikipedia. I added a column for the last year the club won the title. I kept the clubs’ names in Wikipedia’s font, so the ligatures could be seen in the letters in the names of clubs such as Fenerbahce, Besiktas, and Genclerbirgli (my keyboard doesn’t have this capability).

The winner of the Turkish Cup gets to play in the UEFA Cup 1st Round. The cup final is a two-legged affair; the 3rd round is grouped into a round-robin style.

The 2008 Turkish Cup was won by the central Anatolian club Kayserispor. They defeated Ankara-based Genclerbirgli on penalties, 11-10, to win it. [One note: In 1967, Altay SK won the cup over Goztepe SK via a coin toss.]

Here is the Turkish Super Lig table {Click here (Soccer Stats site) }.

Here is a site called Turkey (Turkiye) football (soccer) Column and News {Click here}. The Thursday, September 18 post covers the 4 Turkish clubs currently playing in Europe…Fenerbahce in the Champions League; and Galatasaray, Besiktas, and Kayserispor in the UEFA Cup.

Thanks to the site, http://kizilyildiz.blogspot.com/, which links up to this site.

Thanks to the European Football Statistics site {Click here}, for the attendance figures, such as they are. Hopefully, there will be some gate figures reported for this season, so I can make a more up-to-date attendance map next spring.

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September 21, 2008

Major League Baseball: the American League East- Map and Chart.

Filed under: Baseball: 2008 MLB div's — admin @ 5:04 pm

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Major League Baseball’s American League East features the sport’s two biggest rivals, and probably the two most-supported baseball clubs in North America… the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox. These two clubs, plus the present-day Baltimore Orioles, are franchises which were founding members of the American League, in 1901.

The New York Yankees started out as the second Baltimore Orioles, but after just two seasons, the club moved to northern Manhattan’s Hilltop Park, in 1903, and became the New York Highlanders. The club first wore their pinstripe uniforms in 1912, and in 1913 the New York Yankees name was officially adopted. The club played at the old Polo Grounds ballpark from 1913 to 1922, as renters, since this was the home park of the National League’s New York Giants. In 1923, the steadily improving club moved just across the Harlem River, to the Bronx, and into their gigantic new home, Yankee Stadium. By the end of the 1920s, the club was well on its way to becoming the most successful sporting team in America. In the 1950s alone, the Yankees won 8 AL Pennants, and 6 World Series titles. The Yankees have won the most World Series titles: 26 (but no title since 2000). The Yankees say goodbye to Yankee Stadium tonight {see this from mlb.com/Yankees’ site}, and next spring the club will move into the new Yankee Stadium (2009) {see this, from Wikipedia}.

The Boston Red Sox are one of 4 AL clubs which has never changed its city location (along with the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Indians, and the Detroit Tigers). The Boston Red Sox moniker was officially adopted in 1908. In 1912, the ball club moved into their new home, Fenway Park. The Red Sox have played there ever since (it is the oldest ball park still in use by a Major League team). The Red Sox went through an 85 year title drought, finally winning their 5th World Series title in 2004. They won their 6th championship in 2007.

The Baltimore Orioles which exist today are the third Major League incarnation of that name. The first was the National League’s Baltimore Orioles (I), who existed from 1892 to 1899. This club won three NL pennants, and were a legendary team that featured 7 future Hall Of Famers {see this, from Wikipedia}. As noted, the second Baltimore Orioles (II) moved to New York in 1903, and eventually became the New York Yankees. There was a minor-league Baltimore Orioles which formed in 1903, right after the American League Orioles (II) moved to NYC. This club initially played in the Eastern League (which, since 1911 has been called the International League); they played in Baltimore from 1903 to 1911, and 1914 to 1953. {see this}. In 1954, when the hapless St. Louis Browns (a club that one could call “major-league” in name only) moved east to Baltimore, the minor league Orioles made way, and moved to Richmond, Virginia. This club later moved north to Ohio, and are the present-day Toledo Mud Hens (still of the International League). The present day Baltimore Orioles (III) have remained on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay since 1954, winning 3 World Series titles, the last in 1983.

There are two other ball clubs in the AL East. The Toronto Blue Jays were established in 1977, and are the sole Canadian ball club in the major leagues. [Although there was another MLB club from Canada, the Montreal Expos, who played in the National League from 1969 to 2004. This ball club moved to the US capital to become the Washington Nationals in 2005]. The Blue Jays won two World Series titles, in 1992, and 1993. The Tampa Bay Rays were established in 1998, as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays; the club dropped the Devil from their name this year…a wise decision for a ball club that sits on the edge of the Deep South’s Bible Belt. Saturday, the Rays clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time ever {see this, from mlb.com/Rays’ site}.

AL East Division Auxiliary Chart…Click on the image below to see the full chart.

{Click here for ball club histories and photos, from the Sports E-Cyclopedia site.}

Thanks to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame’s “Dressed to the Nines” site, which features baseball uniforms templates drawn by Marc Okkonen {Click here}.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {Click here}.

Thanks to Logo Shak {Click here}.

Thanks to the Cooperstown Collection Vintage Baseball Caps by American Needle {Click here}.

Thanks to Wikipedia {Click here, for their section on Major League Baseball}.

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September 18, 2008

Netherlands: Eredivisie, Clubs in the 2008-’09 Season (with 07/08 attendances).

Filed under: Netherlands — admin @ 10:52 am

The 53rd season of the Netherlands’ Eredivisie is underway. Reigning champions PSV Eindhoven have won the crown 4 consecutive seasons, and 7 times in the last 9 seasons (Ajax were champions in ’04 and ’02; Feyenoord won it in 1999). The Eredivisie, which began it’s first season in 1956, has 18 clubs. One or two clubs are relegated each year, depending on the outcome of the promotion/relegation playoffs (between the 17th and 16th place finishers in the Eredivisie, and two clubs from the second division, which is called the Eerste Divisie).

Here is an overview of the 07/08 Eredivisie season and preview of 08/09, from http://www.betinf.com/prev_netherland.htm.

For the Eredivisie table, {Click here}.

The Dutch clubs still playing in Europe this season are as follows…

PSV Eindhoven are in the 2008-’09 Champions League, in Group D. In their first match, Tuesday, PSV were embarrased at home by Atletico Madrid, 0-3. They next play at Anfield, versus European powerhouse Liverpool, so it looks grim for PSV’s chances of getting any sort of decent start in this competition. [Note, I wrote a bit about PSV in an April '08 post: {Click here}.] PSV have won 21 Dutch titles (the second most, behind Ajax), 8 KNVB Cups (last in 2005), and 1 European championship: the 1988 Champions League title. The club drew around 33,500 per game last season, in their lavish 35,100-capacity Philips Stadion {see this}, in Eindhoven, North Brabant.

{Click here, for 08/09 Champions League results (UEFA site) }.

There are 4 Dutch clubs still competing in the 2008-’09 UEFA Cup. FC Twente might have made it to the Champions League had they not drawn such a tough opponent as Arsenal, in the CL 3rd Round Qualifiers. [As it is, Twente missed a golden chance for entry into the promised land of the Champions League, especially since the second Dutch spot for a Champions League place will no longer be decided by a post-season playoff between 2nd through 5th place finishers in the Eredivisie. Basically, Ajax complained enough about the format to have it scrapped, and the Dutch Big 3 have again consolidated their hold on the Dutch game. These playoffs had been designed, effectively, to give a club outside the Big 3 a shot at the Champions League. Ironically, two seasons ago, up-and-coming club AZ Alkmaar blew the Eredivisie title on the last game of the season, lost the title on goal difference to PSV, then lost in the playoffs. So that year, the whole plan of the playoffs backfired. Anyways, it's back to simply putting the 2nd place finisher into the 3rd Round Qualifiers of the Champions League.]

FC Twente, with English National Team flameout Steve McLaren as their new manager, face French club Rennes, in the UEFA CUP 1st Round. FC Twente are from Enschede (a city with a population of around 154,000), in east-central Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel; Twente is a region in the south-east of the province. FC Twente draw around 13,000 per game; they have won the KNVB (Dutch) Cup twice: 19777, and 2001; a predecessor of theirs, Sportclub Enschede, won the Dutch championship (pre-Eredivisie) in 1926.

Ajax face Serbian club FK Borac Cacak. {Click here, for Wikipedia’s page on the biggest football club in the Netherlands, Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax.}. Amsterdam is the nation’s largest city, with a population of around 752,000. Ajax have won 29 Dutch titles (the most); 17 KNVB Cups (last in 2007); 4 European championships: 3 European Cups (three straight years: 1971-’73), and 1 Champions League title, in 1995; and 1 UEFA Cup (1992). Their home is the Amsterdam Arena {see this}, which features a retractable roof and a capacity of 51,628. Last season, Ajax averaged around 49,100.

NEC Nijmegen face 18-time Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest. NEC are a medium-small club that has been punching above their weight. Their ground only holds 12,470; the club played to around a 95% capacity last season. Nijmegen is a city of 160,000 or so, near the German border, in the eastern part of the province of Gelderland.

SC Heerenveen are a perennial UEFA Cup participant, and are the club of Friesland, a north-central province of the Netherlands that has it’s own language, West Frisian (which is linguistically similar to the English language {see this} ). Heerenveen isn’t even a city: it’s a town of about 43,000. SC Heerenveen is known for discovering (then selling) future star players (such as Ruud van Niistelrooy and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, as well as the Brazillian Afonso Alves, who scored 7 goals in an Eredivisie game last October, and is now on Middlesbrough). The club averages a respectable 25,000 per game, and have been consistently improving/enlarging their grounds. But they still are unable to crack the hegemony of the Big 3. Heerenveen did make it to the Champions League, once, in 2000. But he club has no major titles. Last season, Heerenveen lost in the 07/08 UEFA Cup 1st Round to Sweden’s Helsingborgs; 2 years ago they made it to the Group (of 40) Stage). Currently, in this year’s competition, Heerenveen face Portugal’s Vitoria Setubal.

Feyenoord are part of the Big 3, but have not been champions for nine seasons. {Click here, for Wikipedia’s page on Feyenoord Rotterdam.} Rotterdam is the Netherlands’ second largest city (pop: appx. 584,000), and has the largest port in Europe. Feyenoord have won 14 Dutch titles, 11 KNVB Cups (they won it this year), 1 European championship (1970 European Cup), and 2 UEFA Cups (1974 and 2002). Feyenoord face Sweden’s Kalmar FF.

{Click here for 2008-’09 UEFA Cup Results, etc. (UEFA site) }.

Thanks to the European Football Statistics site, for the attendance figures {Click here}.

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September 14, 2008

2008-09 UEFA Champions League: Attendance Map.

Filed under: UEFA Champions League — admin @ 9:55 am

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There are 19 clubs, from 07/08, that are returning to the 08/09 Champions League Group Stage. All 5 British clubs: England’s Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea; and Scotland’s Celtic; 2 Spanish clubs: Real Madrid, and Barcelona; 2 Italian clubs: Internazionale, and Roma; 2 French clubs: Lyon, and Marseille; 2 Portuguese clubs: Porto, and Sporting; 2 Ukrainian clubs: Shakhtar Donetsk, and Dynamo Kyiv; Germany’s Werder Bremen; the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven; Turkey’s Fenerbahce; and Romania’s Steaua Bucharest. To see the 07/08 Champions League attendances, by club: {Click here (European Football Statistics site) }.

Here is the UEFA site’s 08/09 Champions League page {Click here}.

Here is Wikipedia’s page on the 08/09 Group Stage. I set it at a chart showing the seeding structure (determined by each club’s co-efficient rating); scroll down for the Groups, etc. {Click here}.

Here are ESPN Soccernet‘s profiles of all 32 clubs in the 08/09 Champions League {Click here).

Thanks to the European Football Statistics site, for the attendance figures {Click here}.

Thanks to the Albion Road site, for featuring this map http://albionroad.com.

Thanks to SoccerLens, for linking up to this map http://www.soccerlens.com.

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September 11, 2008

Portugal: Clubs in the 2008-’09 Liga (with 07/08 attendances).

Filed under: Portugal — admin @ 4:18 am

The Portuguese Liga is currently playing it’s 71st season. Reigning champions FC Porto have won 5 of the last 6 titles.

There are currently 2 clubs from Portugal in the 08/09 Champions League: Porto, and Sporting Club Portugal (widely known as Sporting Lisbon). Porto is in Group G, with Arsenal, Fenerbahce, and Dynamo Kyiv. Sporting is in Group C, with Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Basel. The Group Stage starts 16th September {Click here, (UEFA site) }.

Four Portuguese clubs are in the first round of the 08/09 UEFA Cup: Vitoria Guimaraes, Benfica, Martimo, and Vitoria Setubal. Here are the two-legged match-ups (scheduled for 18th September, and 2nd October): Portsmouth v. Guimaraes, Napoli v. Benfica, Maritimo v. Valencia, and Vitoria Setubal v. Heerenveen. { Click here, for the whole 1st Round Fixture List (Wikipedia) }

{Click to the right, for a overview of 07/08 season, and a preview of 08/09: http://www.bet.inf.com/prev_portugal.htm }.

Thanks to European Football Statistics, for the gate figures {Click here}.

Thanks to Demis, at http://www.demis.nl, for the base maps.

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September 8, 2008

Major League Baseball: the National League East- Map and Chart.

Filed under: Baseball: 2008 MLB div's — admin @ 5:02 pm

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Major League Baseball’s National League East Division is made up of two franchises who date back to the nineteenth century (the Atlanta Braves, originally from Boston; and the Philadelphia Phillies); two ball clubs which were expansion franchises from the 1960s (the New York Mets; and the Washington Nationals, originally from Montreal, Canada); and a club that was an expansion franchise from the 1990s (the Florida Marlins).

{Click here for ball club histories and photos (The Sports E-Cyclpedia site).}

NL East Division Auxillary Chart: Click on image below.

Thanks to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Dressed to the Nines” site, which features baseball uniforms templates drawn by Marc Okkonen {Click here}.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logo Page {Click here}. Thanks to Logo Shak {Click here}.

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