UEFA to call time on loss-making clubs
January 28, 2010
Half Europe’s leading professional clubs are losing money, according to UEFA, and the forthcoming Financial Fair Play initiative will be a concerted attempt to tackle the problem.
The new financial framework will mean that from the 2013-14 season, clubs must break even or face the threat of exclusion from European club competition.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino outlined the situation in a telephone interview with Mike Collett, our chief soccer correspondent, and myself. Here is what he said:
REUTERS: Can you explain what Finanical Fair Play is exactly?
UEFA: Essentially it is not a difficult thing. The main reason for financial fair play is that it is a tool to help improve the long-term stability and the financial health of European club football. It should help the clubs live within the revenues that they generate and one important element of this is that this whole concept was agreed last August in Monaco by all the stakeholders: the clubs, the leagues, the players unions and the national associations, they are all behind this concept.
This was approved by the Executive Committee and now we are in the middle of elaborating the rules. By ‘we’ its not just UEFA, but also external experts, members of the Club Financial Control Panel, in a broad consultation process.
REUTERS: The owners of the clubs are also in favour of this? Michel Platini has said that the owners of the big clubs have approached him.
UEFA: Absolutely. Reading some of the things recently I am puzzled, because this is very much a joint project from the beginning. Some of the club owners have said to Michel Platini “help us”. So it is not something that UEFA is imposing against English clubs or whatever, it’s not the case.
The whole media echo to some extent — not only in England but also across Europe — has contained so many inaccuracies.
We are doing this after very detailed research which we will publish next month. A report has analysed 650 clubs all over Europe, and it shows that around 50 per cent of those clubs are making losses every year — and 20 per cent are making huge losses — every year. Huge losses mean more than 20 per cent of their revenue. It also shows of these 650 clubs more than one third are spending 70 per cent or more of their income on salaries only — which is worrying.
The other element, which is again worrying, is that last season, revenues in in European football generally went up by 10 per cent which is very positive. But, on the other side, the increased costs — basically on the players’ salaries — have gone up 18 per cent.
So these are all trends that are worrying and which are saying to us, ‘we were right’ and by ‘we’ I mean the all the stakeholders had to take some action and move in the direction of Financial Fair Play.”
REUTERS: Are you then looking at the possibility of putting some sort of limit on the percentage of revenue the clubs can spend on salaries?
UEFA: No, there will be some indicators, but the limit would be the break-even rule. You could spend 80 per cent on salaries, if the rest of your costs are 20 per cent, travel costs, for example, everything. But if your other costs are higher then the salaries have to go down. As a kind of indicator 60-65 per cent for example, you should be in the green zone; if you are not there, then we might have to look a bit closer — this would be the task of the Clubs Financial Control Panel to evaluate.
REUTERS: But this would just be an indicator? There would be no intention of imposing a salary cap? If a club makes one billion euros a year you are happy if they spend a billion euros a year?
UEFA: Yes, because that is healthy. It is unhealthy if they spend more than their revenue.
REUTERS: If so many of these top clubs are making such big losses, are you worried there could be some kind of cataclysmic collapse of a number of clubs over a short period of time? Could the landscape of the top leagues change because of the knock-on effect of all these clubs making losses?
UEFA: I would not paint such a cataclysmic picture because football has always shown there can be solutions but having said that, we are seriously worried to see these trends. The clubs themselves are worried, the Leagues are worried. But these are the reasons that pushed us to take the decision to do something … and what is healthier and what can bring a more sustainable model than saying you cannot actually spend more than the revenues that you generate.
One could say if a club goes bust “who cares?” but we care. We care for that club and all the other clubs who would have problems because that club has gone and not paid them and then there is a spiral.
REUTERS: What is the situation regarding clubs being in debt? Will they be banned from European competition when the new rules come in?
UEFA: If they owe money to other clubs or if they owe money to their players and non-playing staff and they are not paying what they should be paying, then that would be a reason to take a sanction. But the sanction would not necessarily be a ban in the first instance. We are still formalising the rules. So it is a bit premature to say this.
But this is only one thing. There are other elements to the rule like the “break-even” element which means that for the 2013-14 season, that clubs must basically break even. The rules are being written now and hopefully will be ready in the summer. But break-even basically means of course, the revenues that you generate you can spend but not more. You cannot have losses.
Now to define losses. You can have losses for one year, because perhaps you had one bad season, and you did not qualify. So we are looking at losses over a “multi-year” basis, for example over three years. So one year you can make a loss, but not over three years. So this is also a distinction — and this has been wrongly reported — because we are not speaking about debts. We are speaking about losses.
Debt, per se, is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem with the debt is the cost of the debt, for example the interest you have to pay, and this can create a loss. We are focusing on the losses.
But we are also also saying losses can be admitted, if the money is invested for long-term purposes — developing a youth academy for example or infrastructure. This of course can lead to a loss in the short-term, but in the long-term it will be beneficial for the club, help increase the revenues. So it is not true to say that if a club is in debt it will be banned from Eureopean competition.
REUTERS: Are you worried that European football is in a real financial crisis at the moment?
UEFA: I think is is still a solveable problem. I don’t think its a crisis yet, but it will become a crisis if nothing is done. So it is interesting that since the time we agreed on all of this, a lot of these issues have come to light, which means that perhaps we were not so wrong in proposing these rules. If nothing is done, it will become serious.
REUTERS: When Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid there was an expression from UEFA that the amount of money involved was worrying in some ways. From your point of view, seeing as Real Madrid generates so much cash, in some ways it isn’t a problem if Real Madrid chose to spend 80 million pounds on one player.
UEFA: Of course if a club like Real Madrid, or any other club generates the necessary amount to spend 80 million then of course they can do it.
REUTERS: The President has often said that clubs in debt who carry on buying players they cannot really afford, are, in effect, “cheating.” Will the FFP stop this ?
UEFA: This is certainly one of the key objectives — to decrease the pressure on players salaries and transfer fees and to limit the inflationary effect. Everyone with normal common sense, would not engage in something they cannot afford. Sometimes, and especially in football, emotions come in and people act in an irrational way, but if you have a rule, which helps you to stay within some boundaries then of course you should respect the rule and this sort of inflationary effect will stop.
REUTERS: How do you think fans are being affected, knowing that the money they are spending to watch their team, is perhaps not being invested by the club in new players, or improving the stadium, or youth development, but, as in the case of Manchester United, money is being paid in interest, going out of the game?
UEFA: From a fan’s point of view is what important is that the club wins. So we see with Manchester United, especially on the sporting side, no-one can say anything against them because they have been so successful. And on the administrative side someone like David Gill is a top personality and the club is very well managed.
So even though they have to pay these huge interest payments, and even though they sold Ronaldo, they are still top of the league, and they are still at the top in the Champions League. So Manchester United know how to regulate their business. They also know how to win for the fans.
REUTERS: Does a part of you regret that UEFA did not do this before? This wasn’t done 10 years ago? Could UEFA have helped some clubs and Leagues if this was done 10 years ago?
UEFA: “I think now is the right time to do it. The circumstances were right now. The fact there was a financial crisis, helped as well in arguing that this was the right thing to do — to get everyone on board as much as possible. We are not in a crisis now, the situation is solveable and now is the right time to act.”
PHOTO: UEFA President Michel Platini gestures during a news conference after arriving at Malta International Airport, outside Valletta, January 26, 2010. The UEFA executive committee is meeting on the Mediterranean island on Thursday and Friday. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
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Istanbul heads list of Games of the Decade
January 1, 2010
Here’s a total random idea: go and choose the best five matches of the last 10 years – a lot easier said than done.
Where do you begin ? Do you only pick matches you have seen yourself ? As I am based in England, do I pick only matches
played in England, or as I am lucky enough to travel round the world and watch football do I go for international matches too.
Do you allow your personal preferences to come into it? After all, any fan could easily pick five great victories achieved by the team they support.
Well, I’ve weighed it up and gone for the bigger picture: any match played anywhere. It’s a totally subjective list with no “right” or “wrong” choices so here goes: Mike Collett’s Best Five Matches of the last decade:
Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3: The epic 2005 Champions League final which Liverpool won on penalties after fighting back from a 3-0 halftime deficit. Milan thought they had won the title — Liverpool, inspired by Steven Gerrard proved them wrong.
AS Monaco 8 Deportivo Coruna 3: An extraordinary match which set a Champions league scoring record in November 2003 and included four goals from striker Dado Prso on his 29th birthday.
Senegal 1 France 0: The stunning upset in the opening match that set the tone for much of the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.
Papa Bouba Diop scored the solitary goal that beat the reigning world champions.
Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1: On a night of pouring rain and unbearable tension in Moscow in May 2008, the two English teams battled to a draw in the Champions League final before John Terry’s penalty miss in the shootout led to United being crowned European champions for the
second time.
Liverpool 5 Alaves 4: The 2001 UEFA Cup final was a momentous match between the old European aristocrats from England and a little-heralded club from Spain that defied the odds to reach their only final. Liverpool completed a cup treble for the season when Delfi Geli conceded a golden goal own goal in extra time.
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Fulham, Valencia face do-or-die Europa League ties
December 16, 2009
Fulham, Valencia, Genoa and Lille are among the sides bidding to reach the knockout stage of the Europa League as the competition’s group phase reaches its conclusion this week.
Premier League representatives Fulham are looking to join Roma in qualifying from Group E but face a winner-takes-all match at Swiss outfit Basel on Wednesday.
“We entered (the tournament) for experience and for the joy it gives our supporters and we’ve given them fantastic value at home in all the games we’ve played,” said Fulham coach Roy Hodgson.
“We’ve certainly not let ourselves down away from home. We won’t let ourselves down in Basel. We want to win, we’d like to win and we’ll try to win, don’t worry about that.”
Group B announced itself as the tournament’s most difficult pool at the group stage draw and Valencia, Lille and Genoa can all qualify going into their final matches in the group, with leaders Valencia hosting Genoa and Lille taking on Czech side Slavia Prague in northern France.
FC Copenhagen travel to Sparta Prague with both sides level on seven points in Group K, while Lille’s compatriots Toulouse have a must-win game at Club Brugge, who are a point above Alain Casanova’s team in Group J.
“It’s the final of the group. It will be decided between them and us,” said Toulouse captain Etienne Didot.
“We knew that after drawing against Bruges at home (2-2) we would definitely have to win there to qualify. We’re going there convinced that we can qualify and I think we’re going to do it.”
Fifteen clubs have already made sure of a place in the knockout phase, including Everton, Villarreal, Roma, Werder Bremen, Benfica and defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk, last season’s UEFA Cup winners.
The list of top-rank contenders for the inaugural trophy now also features the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage, with Liverpool, Juventus and German champions Wolfsburg likely to pose the biggest threat to the sides already in the competition.
The draw for the round of 32 takes place at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday.
PARIS (AFP)
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Celtic held in Euro grudge match as Everton, Fulham win
October 2, 2009
Celtic’s Europa League ambitions suffered another blow on Thursday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Rapid Vienna in a match which brought back uncomfortable, ugly memories.
Celtic, who had lost their opening Group C match at Hapoel Tel Aviv, slipped behind after just three minutes at Parkhead when a mistake by Stephen McManus gifted Nikica Jelavic a goal.
Australia’s Scott McDonald levelled in the 20th minute but Celtic could not find the winner as the Scottish giants slumped to the foot of the table following Hamburg’s 4-2 win over Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Twenty-five years ago, Celtic and Rapid clashed in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Rapid won 3-1 at home before Celtic took a 3-0 lead in the second leg.
But Rapid player Rudi Weinhofer collapsed to the ground, claiming to have been hit by a missile thrown from the terraces before UEFA ordered a third game to be played.
Current Rapid boss Peter Pacult scored the only goal of the match which was played at Old Trafford to take his side through to the next round.
“I think we did enough to get the three points over the 90 minutes,” said Celtic manager Tony Mowbray.
“And yet, in the last three (home) games, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.”
Meanwhile, Everton resisted a valiant effort by BATE Borisov to leave Belarus with a 2-1 win which put them top of Group I with six points while English Premier League rivals Fulham top Group E after a 1-0 win over Basel.
Everton were a goal down by the 16th minute in Minsk as Dmitri Likhtarovich pounced on a loose ball 35 metres out and smashed it into the top corner past Tim Howard.
Everton equalised through Marouane Fellaini in the 68th minute before Tim Cahill grabbed the winner 10 minutes later.
“It was a really pleasing result considering the number of players who were not available,” said Everton boss David Moyes, whose squad was missing 10 first-teamers.
“We were resilient and that allowed us to get the victory. They scored an excellent goal but we regrouped and managed to get the goals we needed.”
Danny Murphy struck the only goal in the 57th minute at Craven Cottage for Fulham converting a fine pass from Andrew Johnson.
Elsewhere, Lazio beat Levski Sofia 4-0 in Bulgaria.
Brazilian midfielder Matuzalem opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and by half-time the visitors had doubled their advantage thanks to Italian striker Mauro Zarate.
Lazio scored goals in the 67th and 73 minutes through Mourad Meghni and Tommaso Rocchi.
FC Salzburg punched above their weight to beat tricky Spaniards Villarreal 2-0 while Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk thumped Partizan Belgrade of Serbia 4-1.
AEK Athens, PSV Eindhoven and Werder Bremen also won at home.
PARIS (AFP)
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UEFA probes 40 match-fixing cases
September 26, 2009
European football’s governing body UEFA are investigating some 40 cases of suspected match-fixing involving games in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Peter Limacher, UEFA’s head of disciplinary services, told a conference here that most of the cases were from eastern Europe and involved the early qualifying rounds of the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Limacher said: “It is mainly clubs from eastern Europe that are being investigated.”
A year ago the number of games being investigated was 25, and UEFA announced they were to set up a six-man special investigation unit to examine corruption in their competitions.
Limacher told the World Sports Law Report conference that there were now 40 games where suspicious betting patterns had been identified, 15 of those in the last two years.
Macedonian club FK Pobeda were banned from European competition for eight years by UEFA in April after being found guilty of match-fixing against Armenian side FC Pyunik in 2004 – they lost 3-1 at home in a Champions League first qualifying round.
FK Pobeda’s president Aleksandar Zabrcanec was banned for life from any football-related activity, as was the player Nikolce Zdraveski.
LONDON (AFP)
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Shocks, novelty and a goal for Platini as Europa League takes off
September 18, 2009
The group stage of the inaugural Europa League got under way on Thursday, with pre-tournament favourites Roma and Hamburg both succumbing to surprise defeats in their opening matches.
Roma, with Claudio Ranieri at the helm for his first European assignment at the club, went down 2-0 at Swiss side Basel in Group E, while German league leaders Hamburg were stunned 3-0 by Rapid Vienna in Group C.
European football’s governing body UEFA is using the tournament to trial the deployment of extra referee assistants behind each goal-line and the officials were an eye-catching if uncontroversial presence in the early games.
The officials are the brain-child of UEFA president Michel Platini, and the Frenchman was doubly assured of a place in the headlines after his namesake – a Brazilian striker called Michel whose nickname is Platini – scored the opening goal in CSKA Sofia’s 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Genoa’s Spanish midfielder Alberto Zapater had the honour of scoring the first ever goal in the tournament’s group stage, and his fourth-minute strike set the current Serie A leaders on the way to a 2-0 victory at home to Slavia Prague in Group B.
Elsewhere, 2004 champions Valencia were held to a 1-1 draw at Lille in Group B after a late equaliser from the French side’s Ivorian forward Gervinho, while Scottish giants Celtic let a 1-0 lead slip in a 2-1 defeat at Hapoel Tel Aviv in Group C.
Portuguese international Liedson netted a hat-trick as Sporting Lisbon won 3-2 at Heerenveen and there were also wins for Anderlecht, Galatasaray and Dinamo Bucharest.
The Europa League is a re-named, streamlined version of the UEFA Cup, with 12 groups of four teams facing off in a round-robin format and the top two from each group qualifying for a place in the knockout phase.
UEFA hope the competition’s new look will endear it to clubs, fans and sponsors alike, but Fulham coach Roy Hodgson made his feelings about the tournament plain by making nine changes to his side for their Group E trip to Sofia.
“The priority is undoubtedly the Premier League,” Hodgson said.
“The Europa League is a bonus – and a very nice bonus – but the Premier League is our bread and butter. No-one would thank us for reaching the Europa League quarter-finals but getting relegated.”
The opening matches in Groups G to L kick off later on Thursday, with Lazio hosting Red Bull Salzburg and Villarreal taking on Levski Sofia in Group G, while Premier League heavyweights Everton face AEK Athens and reigning champions Shakhtar Donetsk travel to Club Brugge.
PARIS (AFP)
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UEFA trials 5 officials as Europa League takes off
September 17, 2009
The group stage of the Europa League kicks off on Thursday, with the trialling of five on-pitch match officials providing the biggest talking point prior to the start of the tournament.
In the biggest change to the game since the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992, two extra officials will patrol the area behind each goal on the lookout for penalty area transgressions such as diving and shirt-pulling.
UEFA president Michel Platini has pioneered the idea and says it will be escalated to next season’s Champions League and the 2012 European Championship if it proves effective.
“One day players will give up simulating because referees will see them,” said the former France international legend.
“For years players have cheated because the referees were not of a good enough quality.
“I am convinced, with the extra officials, that if you have referees close by it will prevent players from simulating and they will take the right decision.”
The Europa League replaces the UEFA Cup as the continent’s new second-tier cup competition, with an unprecedented 48 clubs set to contest the group phase. The top two teams from the 12 groups will go through to the knockout phase alongside the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
Round-robin groups of four have replaced the UEFA Cup’s five-team groups, in a bid to streamline the re-branded tournament along the lines of its hugely popular sister competition.
Valencia, Villarreal, Roma, Lazio, Everton and Hamburg are among the favourites to make the final in Hamburg on May 12.
Valencia have been drawn alongside current Serie A leaders Genoa in Group B, a pool that also contains French side Lille and Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic.
Villarreal, meanwhile, will go into their Group G opener at home to Bulgarians Levski Sofia without midfield lynchpin Marcos Senna, who picked up a thigh injury while on international duty with Spain.
“This is the worst news we could have received,” said Villarreal coach Ernesto Valverde.
“It’s a problem for us as we have seven games in the space of 22 days and we need all of our players 100 percent fit. Marcos is very important for us and his absence will be felt.”
A knee ligament injury to Everton captain Phil Neville has given the Toffees defensive problems prior to the visit of AEK Athens in Group I.
The former England man had been pencilled in to replace suspended right-back Tony Hibbert, as new signing Jonny Heitinga is ineligible.
Claudio Ranieri takes Italian giants Roma to Switzerland’s FC Basel in his first European assignment after replacing the sacked Luciano Spalletti.
The ‘Giallorossi’ began life under Ranieri with a 2-1 league win at Siena on Sunday and the former Chelsea coach is now looking forward to continuing his predecessor’s exploits on the European stage.
“I cannot say my team will play as brilliantly as Spalletti’s side, but I think I can bring pragmatism,” Ranieri said.
“As an outsider I said Barcelona, Roma and Arsenal had been playing the best football in Europe in recent years. I was proud of Roma, especially for its image outside Italy where many people think that we only play Catenaccio. Spalletti did a tremendous job here.”
Shakhtar Donetsk, who beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in the last ever UEFA Cup final in Istanbul in May, travel to Belgium to face Club Brugge in Group J, with Bremen visiting Portugal’s Nacional in Group L.
PARIS (AFP)
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Villa make Rapid exit, Everton, Fulham progress
August 28, 2009
Aston Villa crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday losing their play-off tie against unheralded Rapid Vienna just three days after handing mighty Liverpool a humbling Premier League defeat.
In their second leg tie, played at a half-empty Villa Park, Martin O’Neill’s team were undone by striker Nikica Jelavic grabbing a crucial away goal 14 minutes from time.
A James Milner penalty and a second-half strike from John Carew had handed Villa a 2-1 aggregate lead and they were well on course for Friday’s group stages draw.
But Jelavic, who had also scored in the first leg, had the final say, making the English side rue a first-half penalty miss by Ashley Young.
O’Neill said: “We should have got through. We should have had the game out of sight before they scored and it was unfortunate.
“They exerted some pressure at 2-0, which you would be expecting, but I thought we had a number of chances to go from 2-0 to 3-0 and that would have sealed the tie.
“I am desperately disappointed that we are not through.”
Villa’s English Premier League rivals Everton and Fulham survived testing trips to reach the group stages.
Everton drew 1-1 with Sigma Olomouc in the Czech Republic for a 5-1 aggregate win, but they had to play over 80 minutes with 10 men after defender Tony Hibbert was sent off for a professional foul.
The Merseysiders, 4-0 ahead from the first leg, went in front through South African international Steven Pienaar just before half-time with Pavel Sultes’ 80th-minute goal a a mere consolation for the Czechs.
“It was a job well done,” said Everton boss David Moyes. “I’m pleased we got through, it was important for us. I thought we got better as the game went on. They put us under pressure but we defended well enough and got a goal ourselves.”
Roy Hodgson’s Fulham made the exhausting trip to eastern Russia where they went down 1-0 to Amkar Perm for whom Martin Kushev scored in the last minute, but the Londoners still secured a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Zenit St Petersburg, the 2008 UEFA Cup champions, were knocked out by Portuguese side Nacional.
The Russians had trailed 4-3 from the first leg but looked to be on course for the next stage when Fatih Tekke gave them a 34th-minute lead to level the tie on aggregate, and a key advantage in terms of away goals.
However, with just a minute left, Ruben Micael scored to put the Portuguese side through.
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his Twente side draw 0-0 at Qarabag in Baku for a 3-1 aggregate win, while fellow Dutch contenders Ajax won 2-1 at Slovan Bratislava for a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Two of the tournament favourites cruised through.
Francesco Totti scored a hat-trick as AS Roma crushed MFK Kosice of Slovakia 7-1 for a 10-4 aggregate, while Spain’s Villarreal defeated NAC Breda of the Netherlands 6-1 for a 9-2 win over two legs.
In Friday’s draw, the 38 play-off winners will be joined by the 10 teams defeated in the Champions League play-off round. They will be split into 12 groups of four teams each.
PARIS (AFP)
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Own goal proves cruel hammerblow for McClaren
August 5, 2009
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his debut as a manager in the Champions League brought to an end on Tuesday in the cruellest fashion as Sporting Lisbon scored an injury-time goal to go through on the away goal rule with the tie with FC Twente finishing 1-1 on aggregate.
To make matters even harder to take for McClaren – who guided unfashionable Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final in 2006 where they lost to Sevilla – it was an own goal by Peter Wisgerhof, who deflected Sporting’s goalkeeper Rui Patricio’s header from a last ditch corner, which saw the visitors progress.
Twente had held the lead virtually from the off with Brazilian defender Douglas giving them the lead in the second minute.
Kazakh side Aktobe were another side to suffer after taking the lead early on, but in their case they only had themselves to blame as they went 3-0 up after just 15 minutes away at Israeli outfit Maccabi Haifa.
Maccabi had reduced the deficit to 3-2 at half-time and then two second-half goals by Georgian international Vladimir Dvalishvili – who only arrived in the summer – saw the hosts to a remarkable 4-3 victory which was also the aggregate score.
Austrian side Salzburg also enjoyed a successful night away from home as they beat Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 to go through 3-2 on aggregate, while Greek heavyweights Panathinaikos overcame a 3-1 deficit from the first leg to beat Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic 3-0 and go through 4-3 on aggregate.
For Sparta it was a case of nightmares revisited as the same side had ousted them at the same stage of the competition last year and the writing was on the wall when Kostas Katsouranis made it 2-0 nine minutes into the second-half as it put the Greeks ahead on away goals.
However, they were only able to wrap up their place in the next round when Dimitris Salpingidis scored with a minute of the match remaining to give Dutch coach Henk ten Cate – a former Ajax manager and assistant manager at Chelsea – an important victory.
Wednesday’s action sees two of the better known clubs in danger of going out at what would be a disastrously early stage for them both.
Scottish giants Celtic will try to overcome a 1-0 deficit in Moscow against Dynamo Moscow.
The former European Cup winners have never before overturned a first leg deficit in European competition but new manager Tony Mowbray is banking on them doing so as he said last week they need to progress in the competition if he is to have funds for new players.
Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk – their country’s first ever European trophy winners when they won the last ever UEFA Cup last season – also have a tough task as they head to unheralded Romanian side Timisoara with the hosts holding what could be an invaluable two away goals under their belt after a 2-2 draw in the first leg.
PARIS (AFP)
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Seol caps Fulham victory, Euro ties marred by violence
July 31, 2009
South Korea international Seol Ki-Hyeon scored the crucial third goal as Fulham defeated Lithuanian side Vetra 3-0 in Vilnius on Thursday in the Europa League third qualifying round first leg tie.
Seol was introduced by coach Roy Hodgson as a late substitute, along with new signing Bjorn Helge Riise, and the Korean made an immediate impact when he scored with a superb strike from the edge of the area after 85 minutes.
Bobby Zamora scored the opener for Fulham, who are playing in Europe for the first time since 2002, on the stroke of half-time.
Zamora turned down a summer move to Premier League rivals Hull earlier in the summer and he showed his importance to the Londoners with a 44th-minute strike from a Danny Murphy pass.
Murphy added the second from the penalty spot in the 56th minute after Zamora had been fouled in the area.
Seol then added the third to make Fulham comfortable favourites to progress when the second leg takes place at Craven Cottage next week.
Two ties, meanwhile, were overshadowed by violence.
In Denmark, 111 fans were arrested in the Danish town of Brondy before the home team’s clash with Legia Warsaw.
Police used teargas to break up fighting between the two sets of fans before kick-off in the match which ended 1-1.
Dozens of Croatian fans and eight Slovak policemen were injured in the northern Slovakian town of Zilina where the home team were facing Hajduk Split.
Around 500 Croatian fans threw stones at police and broke shopwindows in the town as they tried to sneak into the stadium.
The police detained 120 Croatians, police spokeswoman Jana Balogova said.
PARIS (AFP)
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