Rest of the World Leagues

[acmilan4ever]

As we already have a thread for each of the major leagues, i saw that we dont have one for the other leagues which can be discussed about. I will try and keep this thread running so guide me if i miss out any of the less major leagues in the world.

Also feel free to discuss anything about any of the other European leagues, players, managers, scandals, just about anything related

Here are some current league standings and some interested articles:

Portuguese League



Ukrainian League



Turkish League



Russian League



Edit: I know theres a RPL thread already but no one discusses anything in there so trying it out here.

Some good reads,

Trabzon and Fener fight it out for the title

Dynamo win the battle, but Shakhtar will win the war

[acmilan4ever]

Greek FA facing funding cuts

AEK Athens ended a nine-year trophy drought by lifting the trophy on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Atromitos but, after the game, riots ensued and some AEK fans invaded the pitch, fought with Atromitos players and abused their fans. Atromitos coach Giorgos Donis even claimed that flare guns were aimed at supporters in the VIP stands.

Greek police saw 22 officers injured - five seriously - as hooligans tossed flares, fireworks, seats and plastic bottles on to the pitch following the final whistle and arrested 13 people on charges including possession of explosives, arson and disturbing the peace.

"We have asked EPO to change the disciplinary law. If this is not done, the state will suspend all funding to Greek football," deputy culture minister George Nikitiadis told reporters. "Penalties must be put in place to stop the throwing of firecrackers and for any fan to entering the field of play. These penalties must include the deduction of points and in cases of repeat offending, relegation."

A new sports bill will be released by the government in June, enabling authorities to hand out stricter penalties to address the problem of stadium violence, with secretary for sport Panagiotis Bitsaxis adding his voice to the issue.

"The events of the Greek Cup final once again underline the position of the state that if professional football wishes to maintain its self-governed model, then it must ensure that regulations are followed and that the necessary measures for the smooth organisation of football matches are introduced," he said in a statement.

Police are also investigating the suspected arson of an AEK Athens fan club which was targeted, extensively damaging the building, as well as two cars parked outside. Although a police statement said nobody was injured and no arrests were reported.

Greek football has been plagued by violence already this season, with Olympiakos Piraeus, Panathinaikos and PAOK Salonika all being handed out supporter bans after pitch invasions.

Villas-Boas: I could be 'The S**t One'

Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas has distanced himself from claims he is the new Jose Mourinho and warned that he could soon be regarded as 'The S**t One'.

Villas-Boas, 33, has led Porto to the brink of the UEFA Cup final after a 5-1 semi-final first-leg victory over Villarreal last week. Given that Mourinho rose to prominence with Porto's UEFA Cup success in 2003, and that Villas-Boas acted as his assistant at three different clubs, comparisons have been inevitable.

Villas-Boas, though, believes it is important that he is seen as a coach in his own right.

"I'm no rival to someone who will be the best manager of all time," he told the Daily Telegraph.

"I have to distance myself, because I believe I have my own personality and the way I work is completely different, but people associate me with one of the best managers in the world so I just have to live with that.

"People think I am the next one but I am not the next one. I am a normal coach who benefits from having top players and one day I will not benefit from having this type of talent. I am not the Special One. Maybe, then, I will be The S**t One."

Villas-Boas left Mourinho's coaching staff at the start of the 2009-10 season to take charge of Academica.

"I do not speak with Jose," he said. "After I left we spoke a lot when I was at Academica but it's a little different now.

"It was important for me to make the break. I felt I could give much more. That was something I felt inside. I fully understand the position I had then because it's the way things are.

"Everyone has their position and I was fortunate to be involved and be successful and I was always very, very professional, but I had so much more to give and I felt the urge to start managing.

"If I could have been more to Jose then that would have been good but I completely understand that he did not feel the need to get more from me, so I made my choice."

Villas-Boas has been linked with a number of top clubs around Europe.

"Anybody around the world who is successful generates interest. I take it very well. I only don't take it well when we go into lies and this is something that happens in Italy, for example, where I supposedly told a Roma director that I would not go to Roma because I was going to Liverpool and that Jose had told me to go to the Premier League rather than Serie A.

"That is just something that some guy made up and sold as a true story. Speculation is okay, but lies are not."

Having already worked at Chelsea, Villas-Boas has done little to dampen speculation he could return to Stamford Bridge despite having been sacked, along with Mourinho, in 2007.

Asked if Roman Abramovich had made a mistake, he said: "No, no, no. I don't think they made a mistake.

"Jose won the FA Cup the season before, with the Carling Cup and went to the semi-finals of the Champions League and lost on penalties to Liverpool. And that was a season when we had injuries everywhere.

"We played Paulo [Ferreira] as a central defender with [Michael] Essien. We were at the maximum of our abilities with the players we had.

"The season was still successful but the owner had other expectations and maybe he was proved right because they reached the final and had John Terry not slipped with the penalty then they would have won the cup. Again it was a question of luck." He added: "London is a city where I could live perfectly. We had some good times over there and the people in the club are fantastic - from the players, staff and the owner."

[ezekiel2517]

When does the Russian season start?

[acmilan4ever]

Originally Posted by ezekiel2517

When does the Russian season start?

The new season started in mid March 2011, its currently 7 matchdays in. It will end sometime in November i think.

Last season Zenit won the league, CSKA were runners up. Both these qualified automatically for the CL draw. Rubin Kazan, who finished third will contest in the CL playoffs.

[Sven]

I think I read somewhere that the Russian League will use European calendary next season. Don't know how they will do with the gap of 6 months though.

I watch Liga Sagres sometimes, Brazilian TV shows it, but the league is really poor lately. As good as this Porto really is, this campaign is absurd.

[Dinar]

André Villas-Boas: The Genius Behind Porto’s Renaissance
by Rizwan Ahmed

Far away from the noise of the Clasicos, a delicately poised Premier League finish, the talk of AC Milan wrapping up the title in Italy and the impending Champions League clash between FC Barcelona and Manchester United, there is one team which has been tearing apart opponents in their quest for European glory. Porto FC has taken Portugal and Europe by storm, comfortably winning the domestic league, staying unbeaten, and making their way to the Europa League finals; and this unprecedented success can be attributed to the genius of one man – Andre Villas Boas.

http://www.thehardtackle.com/index.p...s-renaissance/

[Dottore Joey]

I Present the Icelandic League

[acmilan4ever]

Originally Posted by Sven

I think I read somewhere that the Russian League will use European calendary next season. Don't know how they will do with the gap of 6 months though.

I watch Liga Sagres sometimes, Brazilian TV shows it, but the league is really poor lately. As good as this Porto really is, this campaign is absurd.

I agree about the Liga Sagres, only the matches between Sporting, Benfica and Porto are really worth watching but the rest are just

I had high hopes for Sporting to make it a 3 way for the title but looks like it will be a fight between them and Braga for that final CL playoff spot.

About the RPL, i had read that they might consider it at the end of this season, in any case they will probably have to wait from end of November till the following August to start a new season to have it run the same time as the other European leagues...Its a very difficult case, problems with the fitness and inactivity of the players, revenue loses etc...

I still doubt that they will implement it, might have done it had they won the WC bid

[Sven]

Originally Posted by acmilan4ever

I agree about the Liga Sagres, only the matches between Sporting, Benfica and Porto are really worth watching but the rest are just

I had high hopes for Sporting to make it a 3 way for the title but looks like it will be a fight between them and Braga for that final CL playoff spot.

About the RPL, i had read that they might consider it at the end of this season, in any case they will probably have to wait from end of November till the following August to start a new season to have it run the same time as the other European leagues...Its a very difficult case, problems with the fitness and inactivity of the players, revenue loses etc...

I still doubt that they will implement it, might have done it had they won the WC bid

The solution I think is to make one season 6 months longer, so lasting 1 year and a half, making more league rounds or something, starting the next one in August. I think the problem is that their winter is very hard so it kinda makes no sense playing in December and January while vacation during the better weather to play.

[seveners]

I think the title of the thread should change, so we can also discuss about other non european league, just my opinion though.

[acmilan4ever]

Originally Posted by seveners

I think the title of the thread should change, so we can also discuss about other non european league, just my opinion though.

Done, you can start discussing any leagues or posting any good info for us

[zorro10]

It looks like Vardar is going in second league
Vardar is the most successful team in Macedonian football history. The club is based in Skopje -the capital of Macedonia. And plays in our national arena (stadium) „Filip II“
There is one interesting story and connection, about Vardar and AC Milan. Till 1963 this club official colors were blue and white, but the capital city of Macedonia in 1963 hit terrible earthquake. There were donations all over the world, so from Milano came donation football jerseys. They were from AC Milan and from then Vardar changed their colors to black and red!
The situation in macedonian football is very bad. We have maybe the worst league in Europe, average national team and look what the president of our federation is unchangeable. No one can change him. It looks like he have big connections with FIFA UEFA because there were one big scandal about fixed matches from one our club , Pobeda from Prilep.
The situation in Vardar is very bad . The leadership of the club is changed several times but no one did something good for the club they all just stealing!
This year looks like we are going down in second league, but look what we are going in a second league with our biggest opponent Pelister from Bitola ... This are the most successful clubs in macedonian football and that's not good!
Here is the table

5 more league matches till the end of this season! But the chances are really low!

[Jasper]

Originally Posted by zorro10

It looks like Vardar is going in second league
Vardar is the most successful team in Macedonian football history. The club is based in Skopje -the capital of Macedonia. And plays in our national arena (stadium) „Filip II“
There is one interesting story and connection, about Vardar and AC Milan. Till 1963 this club official colors were blue and white, but the capital city of Macedonia in 1963 hit terrible earthquake. There were donations all over the world, so from Milano came donation football jerseys. They were from AC Milan and from then Vardar changed their colors to black and red!

Originally Posted by zorro10

The situation in macedonian football is very bad. We have maybe the worst league in Europe, average national team and look what the president of our federation is unchangeable. No one can change him. It looks like he have big connections with FIFA UEFA because there were one big scandal about fixed matches from one our club , Pobeda from Prilep.

I challenge that

_____________________________________

So which leagues are not included into the rest of the world? The ones that are stickied?

[zorro10]

Originally Posted by Jasper

I challenge that

_____________________________________

So which leagues are not included into the rest of the world? The ones that are stickied?

Oh yes? Then you don't know over who Andora did their first win
And for the club football in past years the clubs from our country always fall in first qualifying round!

[Jasper]

Originally Posted by zorro10

Oh yes? Then you don't know over who Andora did their first win
And for the club football in past years the clubs from our country always fall in first qualifying round!

Ok, I'lll let you have it, since we are sort of on the rise ATM.

But not so long ago we lost a game to you and were minutes away to give Faroe Islands their 3-rd qualifiers win(first 2 were vs San Marino).

[acmilan4ever]

This terms Clausura in Argentina looks like a tight race so far, River finally doing better after the Apertura disappointment but Boca still struggling...

[Jasper]

Originally Posted by zorro10

Oh yes? Then you don't know over who Andora did their first win
And for the club football in past years the clubs from our country always fall in first qualifying round!

Forgot to add we do have the worst supported league - http://soccerlens.com/the-worst-supp...-europe/39181/

Liverpool fan from European Football Weekends made the trip to Tallinn - http://europeanfootballweekends.blog...ra-tallin.html

Do I have the right to facepalm if I don't go to the matches very often myself?

Originally Posted by acmilan4ever

This terms Clausura in Argentina looks like a tight race so far, River finally doing better after the Apertura disappointment but Boca still struggling...

17-th team with the best form?

(usual season start hype )

[acmilan4ever]

Fun fact:

Falcao, one of the best strikers in the world who recently broke the record for most goals in a European competition has scored 70 goals in 80 games for his club side Porto

He has a release clause of 30m euros, can i hear a Real Madrid or a Man City

[acmilan4ever]

Shakhtar Donetsk clinch sixth Ukrainian championship with derby victory over Metalurh

Champions League quarter-finalists Shakhtar Donetsk have retained their Ukrainian league title with a 2-0 victory over city-rivals Metalurh on Saturday.

This means that the Miners have won the national championship for the sixth time in their history.

Although Shakhtar lost to their closest rivals Dynamo Kiev last week, there were to be no such slip-ups this time. Luiz Adriano gave the home side the lead in first-half stoppage time with his 10th goal of the season.

Croatia international and captain Darijo Srna made sure of the title with a second goal four minutes from the end, paving the way for a potential double as Shakhtar are in the semi-finals of the Ukrainian cup.

Although eliminated by Barcelona at the last eight stage of the Champions League this season, it has been a superb campaign for Mircea Lucescu's men, who achieved their best ever performance in Europe's elite competition.

Despite not winning a league championship in the first nine years of their existence following the break up of the Soviet Union, Shakhtar have gone on to finish top of the table in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

[zorro10]

Originally Posted by Jasper

Forgot to add we do have the worst supported league - http://soccerlens.com/the-worst-supp...-europe/39181/

Liverpool fan from European Football Weekends made the trip to Tallinn - http://europeanfootballweekends.blog...ra-tallin.html

Sorry I didn't back to you on this message (this forum doesn't have option to receive private message when someone quote you?) I was busy celebrating SCUDETO!

So when we talk about attendance ... here in Macedonia good attendance have clubs that have good organized ultras fans... the bad thing is that 70-80% of every fun group is composed with very young funs... Here in Macedonia older funs have wrong thinking and they stop going to matches at age of 24-25. And when there is some important match they all come and tell us how they are biggest funs in the world and how it was in their time That't make me sick

There is good news ! Vardar won match with (till then) 6th Sileks and we reduce the difference (Vardar won this match away ). Now Skopje is 5 points in front of us and we have mutual match next Saturday where Vardar plays at home! We have 4 matches till the and of the season and some easy matches... there is still chance for Vardar to be saved from relegation.
I hope I'll write you more good news next Saturday!