I want the fourth spot because that is the only way we can get CL football next season

Yep, Milan pretty much need Inter to win this one. I won't say we've been 'lucky' that Juve and Fiorentina have been pretty horrible this season, but it's certainly helped. I wouldn't be confident of CL football for Milan if only the top 3 got it.

Couple things:

1) I'm confident we will remain in the #3 slot this season.

2) This will give Inter more excuse to spend, I know they will anyway but they will do more than normal.

3) I don't understand how the spot assignments are determined, but why would they take it from Italy, if they have a team in the final (and 3 of the last 16)? How about from England that had no one even in the semis?

It's based on all teams in European competition for the previous 5 years.

England have pretty much dominated European football (in this sense) for the past 5 years. I think we've had 5 or 6 finalists in that time, that goes without saying the QF/SF teams. Spain have done very well in the UEFA Cup to help boost their co-efficient and have 1/2 teams do well in the CL (Barca winning it twice in 5 years helps). Italy haven't done well at all. Besides Milan winning it in 2007, the teams have fared poorly, while the Germans have been doing quite well in the UEFA Cup.

The Germans and the French have caught right up, and with Bayern in the CL final it couldn't get any closer. I have read that inter have to win in 90 mins, extra time isn't good enough!

How things stand at this minute.

(The yellow part indicates possible coefficient change as these nations still have teams participating in UEFA competitions)



So right now Italy miss out and won't get it back unless Inter beat Bayern, they may even have to do it in 90 minutes, rather than ET/penalties, as I_Ross says.

It seems Scotland only get 1 CL spot for the 11/12 season too. Might make the title race a bit more interesting.

Ah, I did not know it was from a 5 year span. Fine...I'll begrudgingly hope Inter wins. But if we don't do something we may not even get to 4th next season anyways.

Although, from the looks of that chart, it looks like just delaying the inevitable, because that first year was the big difference between Germany and Italy and that won't factor in again anymore.

Inter must win the Champions League Final and not let the game go to a penalty shootout if Italy are to stay ahead of Germany in the UEFA co-efficient.

... as long as Inter beat Bayern at the Bernabeu on May 22 by any means other than a penalty shoot out, Italy will remain above Germany in the UEFA rankings.

http://www.football-italia.net/apr30n.html

That's good news then. Though personally I can see it going to penalties, which isn't good.

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The above is Atletico's run to the final. They've won 2 games! This is why European competitions are a joke and have been since the early 90s. Too many fail-safes in place so the big name can afford to slip up alot and still go through.

Doesn't the World Cup also affect the UEFA Rankings? So if Italy does (substantially) better than Germany, we don't need Inter to win!

EDIT: Bah, just checked it and no, it doesn't.

Surely those fails safes make it an even playing field? All teams play under the same circumstances, I don't see how the big teams are especially protected more than anyone else.

The way I see it is big teams have more chance of winning a game than smaller teams. So in a knockout game the small team could fluke a victory and defend luke heroes in the second leg. But with things like the CL where there is a group stage they can't really do this, it just gives the money makers extra chance to make up for a defeat.

This still doesn't convince me. By your logic, almost any team can progress in tournaments by way of hardly winning any games - indeed, that seems to support smaller teams who are less likely to win a match than a bigger team.

I still say it's an even playing field, and indeed, you talk about the knock out stage of the Uefa Cup and smaller teams defending like heroes - well, for about 4 or 5 ties Atletico have been the big team yet no small team has fluked a win then defended like heroes to knock them out.

What is beneficial to big teams is beneficial to smaller ones imo. In this case anyway.

We'll just have to disagree then. URFA know that small teams font stand much chance in a stage where they have to do well over 6 teams, which is why they make it like this.

Fulham and Atletico are getting 12,000 tickets each for the Final. Embarassing, 57,000 seater and that's all they can give!?

Football is in desperate need for a reboot or it just won't last. Fans are easily the most important thing in the game, without them it simply wouldn't exist. But the higher ups seem to be doing everything they can to put us off the game.

Couldn't agree more. Fans are slowly becoming a byproduct of football. Like something they need to run the business. As if all the other spectators needed the fans to have a nice scenery. Football is becoming a plastic caricature of the great sport it once was.

Rather like the NBA here, which is why I stopped watching pro basketball a long time ago.

Flip side of the coin is that with this financial recession, football, like everything else, needs money - and it's a sad necessity that the sponsors keeping the game alive are the ones being kept happy with complimentary tickets.

there was a final tonight... Atletico Madrid won it...

Didn't know what channelbit was in over here andthe time difference didn't help. Well done Atletico.

I feel sorry for Fulham.

I was in a 3 hour meeting about historic preservation (whee) and missed the game. Sounds like it was a good one.

Full credit to Fulham, who surprised everyone.

I think Atletico deserved to win this game though there was not a big difference between them.

Fulham would have been the first team to win a European title without previously having won a domestic one!

UEFA has not admitted Mallorca to UEFA competitions -- in other words, they won't be in the Europa League this year. The reason is the serious financial difficulties the club faces (players haven't been paid since May, for example).

Not sure who if anyone is going to take their place.

Villareal, if the appeal doesn't go through.