The English Premier League gets four teams that qualify for the European Champions League and three teams that qualify for the Europa League.
Europa League Badge
The Champions league positions are the top four places in the league, but the Europa places are not all determined by league positions, although they are in all other countries expect England and France.
The Carling Cup winner and the FA Cup winner get entry to the Europa League from England and 5th place in the Premier League also gets a berth.
But three more overall berths are awarded each year by UEFA to those countries that finish in the top three places of the UEFA Fair Play table.
Teams are judged on the following criteria and are awarded points in the following categories:
- Yellow and red cards
- Positive play – attacking tactics, acceleration of the game, efforts to gain time, and continued pursuit of goals
- Respect to the opponent – like returning the ball to the opponent at a throw-in, helping an injured opponent (whoops)
- Respect to the referee (whoops)
- Behavior of the team officials (whoops)
- Behavior of the fans (whoops)
Only the first one is really objective, and the rest are completely subjective, and we’re not sure why it’s not all based on yellow and red cards, and then nobody can argue about it.
Remember that every time a referee in the Premier League gives out a card, red or yellow, it lessens the chances of an additional England team qualifying for the Europa League that season.
England did qualify last year, and the way the additional place is awarded in England is that it goes to the highest placed team in the league that hasn’t yet qualified for Europe – and Fulham got that place last year in 8th place and on 49 points.
It’s interesting Newcastle have 4 points more than that total this season, with 7 games still remaining.
England have qualified through the Fair Play rules 7 times since it started back in 1995 – that’s 17 times it has already been awarded.
But the bad news for Newcastle is that the current standings have Norway at the top, with Finland and the Netherlands in second and third places, with England currently in 9th place and way off the pace.
Pity that referees in the Premier League cannot stop giving out any more cards this season….
Norway have qualified 10 times since 1995 by the Fair Play table, and notice it has nothing to do with how good the league is in that country.
So we’ll just have to hope that Liverpool beat Everton in the semi-final the weekend after next, and 6th place will get us a Europa League spot, and after all we’ve been wanting Liverpool to do well all season – haven’t we?
Say yes 😀
But it’s not all lost even if Everton win the FA Cup – we’ll just have to finish in 5th place above Chelsea, and 7 wins in a row should do that!
And if we don’t make it this season, just remember it could have been a lot worse – Sunderland could have won the FA Cup – so thank goodness for small mercies, because that would have been unbearable.
Comments welcome.
112 comments so far
cyprus
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Comment #41Though Bayern do have the best two wingers and a hell of a CF
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Comment #42Right lads, we’re riding on a crest of a wave, the momentum is with us and if we approach this game right then we can stop Swansea from playing, and nick all three points.
It is important to note that only 3 teams have beaten Swansea at the Liberty, Man United, Norwich and Everton. It is by no coincidence that the three men who overseen these victories are of the more astute variety of manager, Sir Alex is a tactical genius, Lambert has shown how clever he can be, and Moyes has done it on a shoestring for over a decade. Is AP of that standard yet? Friday will tell the tale 😉
cyprus
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Comment #43I was going for APOEL but they lost to Real a week or so ago 😉
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Comment #44Barca are the best side in the world, followed closely, very closely, by Real Madrid. If Messi got injured then the gap between the two closes.
Bayern are great going forward but the respective attacking abilities of Real Madrid and Barcelona would massacre Bayern’s atrocious back line.
cyprus
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Comment #45Ruddy,
Swansea looked decidedly pedestrian against us at St. J., if that’s anything to go by
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:44 PM
Comment #46To be fair though Cyprus Swansea were not going out to win that game, they had no intention of playing football that day. Rodgers was more interested in stopping us playing football and settling for the point.
I was surprised by that tactic as they were more than capable of playing good football, but I assure you, that was by design when they came up to St James’
We will see a very, very different Swansea side on Friday
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Comment #47Hmm, so what if Chelsea win the champions league, and also beat Everton in the FA cup final ha!
That would mean Everton go in to the Europa League, as Chelsea are champions league qualifiers.
Hmm, if Chelsea finish 6th, Newcastle 5th, Tottenham 4th, and Tottenham win the FA cup beating Everton, we actually wouldn’t mind Chelsea winning the champions league
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Comment #48Now THAT’S a scenario for ya
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Comment #49We really don’t want Chelsea winning the Champion’s League, if they finished 5th we would want them to win the FA Cup, regardless of whether they were playing Liverpool or Everton, because that would mean a Europa League spot would go to the team in 6th.
However, I do think we have enough about us to nab 5th, the away game to Chelsea is a huge one.
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Comment #50Chelsea would take a champions league spot, in turn pushing Tottenham in 4th spot in to the Europa League, in turn pushing Everton out of the Europa league, and also Newcastle, which is not good actually, Tottenham will take the Europa spot we wanted 🙁
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Comment #51The fact is, we are getting europe this season, because there’s an air of destiny around. 😛
I love the smell of destiny in the afternoon!
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:50 PM
Comment #52Obatoyou
You think too much 😛
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:50 PM
Comment #53…smells like VICTORY!!!
😀
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Comment #54no wait no, I was right the first time, we WOULD get europa in that case!!
har! there is a scenario where we want Chelsea to win the champions league.
See, the key is that, if it’s Tottenham who beat Everton in the FA cup final, and Tottenham are in Europa (after finishing 4th as Chelsea won the champions league and takes the 4th CL spot) then, Everton WON’T make Europa, because they are beaten by Tottenham, who are only Europa Qualifiers, not champions league qualifiers. 2nd in the FA cup only makes Europa, if it’s a CL qualifier that wins it.. heh
Pardew's fist pump
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:54 PM
Comment #55😆 You got it, Ruddy!
Rowan Milsted
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:56 PM
Comment #56All this Champion’s League/Europa stuff is giving me a headache! I’m not complaining though, if you guys weren’t sharing this knowledge then I wouldn’t know! Whatever happens this season, isn’t it amazing that we’re in a position where we can talk about Europe as a realistic possibility? Good times…
On HBA, as I said in a previous article, I feel that Pardew has man-managed him brilliantly. I disagree that we should have played him more earlier – the fact that he was made to learn our way of playing the game, pass the ball more, track back and do the ‘dirty’ stuff, and earn his starting place in the team, is the main reason why he’s in such good form now. It’s superb man management by Pards in my opinion. He’s getting the best out of HBA and rewarding his improvement with a well-deserved and timely run of games.
As for the fair play rules… don’t forget that we have Tiote! I don’t think that was ever a possibility. Though in fairness to him, he’s had less yellow cards than last season.
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:59 PM
Comment #57@51 I’ll take that as a compliment heh
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:59 PM
Comment #58we WILL qualify for Europe. Question is –
+Europe
or
+Europa
😉
HWTL
bollance
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:02 PM
Comment #59Not even the managers realise how it all works. I am sure MacLeish hadn’t realised birmingham were in europe until the commentator pointed it out after he won league cup!
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Comment #60I agree with the fist pumping Pardew –
“The fact is, we are getting europe this season, because there’s an air of destiny around”
AMEN
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Comment #61bollance – thats right, i remember that interview 🙂
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Comment #62I don’t remember that interview what happened
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:13 PM
Comment #63in Australia, we don’t get shz all coverage, I wanna see this MOTD where Lawro sucked on a lemon about the liverpool match! fooey
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Comment #64Obatoyou
Don’t know if you can watch bbc i player but I’ll post the link anyway!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01flr9z/Match_of_the_Day_2_2011_12_01_04_2012/
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Comment #65obatoyou – after Birmingham had qualified, MaCleish was interviewed after the game (usual post-match stuff) and it was put to him that this sees him qualify for that last Europa spot – his eyes lit up and he said “not that i know of” and said that he would have to check that out!!!
Madness
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:16 PM
Comment #66im sure someone will have the link, i cant remember word for word how it went but he was very surprised!!! 😉
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Comment #67Ruddy – thanks for that!!! 🙂
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Comment #68It’s the link for MOTD2 where Lawro was on, not the interview of MacLeish ha ha
obatoyou
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM
Comment #69Thanks but can’t view it outside UK, hate lawro tho for some reason, schadenfreude, reading his predictions, I hope they’re all wrong. heh
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Comment #70Well he took pleasure in our misery when we were knee deep in it so only fair we laugh at him when Liverpoo are in the crapper 😛
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:26 PM
Comment #71Team for the SWANS –
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Krul~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simo~~~~~~~~~~~Willo~~~Colo~~~~~~~Santon/Raylor
~~~~~~~~~~~~Tiote~~~~~~~~~~Jonas~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Cabaye~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~HBA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ba~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Cisse~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
check the toastie
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Comment #72ruddy – were you at the swansea game, you speak with such certainty about something that is totally untrue?
alex84
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Comment #73Hi guys what games are going to be shown on Tv and what channel? cheers
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Comment #74alex – Toon Games, football games, any sports games???
papiss_on_your_parade
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:43 PM
Comment #75Swansea is on sky sports 1 this friday, kick off is at 4. Then we weill be on tv against man city but i am not sure what channel.
Otherwise watch them online 😀
Rowan Milsted
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:48 PM
Comment #76Toon_Tom
Yup, I agree with that team for Friday – assuming Colo is fit. Guthrie, Perch and Shola to come off the bench if necessary., depending on how the game is going.
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Comment #77Rowan – I would however be in 2 minds as to whether play Perch at either the LB or DM role due to his stella performances of late?!
If Colo is not fit – Perchinho at CB !!!
alex84
Apr 4, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Comment #78Toon Games
toonLYF
Apr 4, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Comment #79in the summer, as lovens replacement, we should go in for the 20 year old Vincent AbouBAkar of Valenciennes FC. His playing style kind of blends our two Dembas, very positive forward, loves to run at his man, rarely has his back to goal and has scary acceleration. Only problem is, he plays for Cameroon so will be away for ACoN with the others 🙁 otherwise he’s perfect and IMO a better prospect than Rhodes.
also i know it means very little to alot of you, but i’ve had him on my football manager save for us, for a year now, in that year…
(sub appearances)
Demba Ba – Played 44(3) – Scored – 32
Papiss Cisse – Played 39(5) – Scored – 27
Vincent Aboubakar- Played 21(14) -Scored – 9
This, mixed with a fair bit of research into his career over the last two years (18-20) tells me he is, and will be VERY GOOD! where’s Graham Carr’s email address?
Toon_Tom
Apr 4, 2012 at 2:24 PM
Comment #80LYF – football manager means nothing mate!