Footy made simple?
(This was originally an email to becko13, who asked me to clarify a few things. I thought I'd share my 'knowledge' with you all... Want it, or not!)
Ok, so here’s the lowdown on the Football Season etc.
There are 4 leagues in England - The Premier League, The Championship, League 1 and League 2.
The FA Premier League - You only need worry about 'The Prem' (Arsenal have NEVER been out of the top league). It consists of 20 teams who play each other twice - once at home and once away - which means a total of 38 Premier League games a season. A team is rewarded 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw (this stands true in ALL league set ups in any competition in the world, to the best of my knowledge), whoever has the most points after all 38 games are played is the Champion, if two teams have the same points total, factors such as goal difference (goals scored v goals allowed), results against each other etc come into play.
At the end of each Premier League Season two things happen:
1 - The 3 teams with the lowest points total (#’s 18, 19 and 20) are relegated to The Championship for the next season. The Championship winners and runners up go up to the Premiership, the 3rd spot is filled by the winner of a play off consisting of the teams place 3rd through 6th in the Championship. Got it?
2 - The Premier League Champions and runners up go straight into next Seasons UEFA (United European Football Associations) Champions League,, the 3rd and 4th team go into a play off scenario. The Champions League is basically what used to be called the European Cup. The best teams from all the leagues in Europe go on to compete to be crowned the best club team in Europe. So if your Champion of England in 2005, you could go on to be Champion of Europe in 2006. However, because of how the Domestic Leagues are weighted (England, Spain, and Italy (the top 3 leagues) all get 4 teams going into the CL, the Dutch League gets just 1 automatic place, get it?), some countries get more teams progressing to the CL. The CL is BIGGGGGGG money which is why a top 4 place is such a big deal in the Premier League. What is crazy about the Champions League is that often it's not the team that finished Champs of the nation that go on to win the European Cup. Liverpool are the current Champions of Europe, however they qualified for the tournament as only the 4th best team in England from the season before. I hope this is clear. So no, Arsenal are NOT doing well in the Premier League this year (currently 5th!) but we are into the knock out stages (Round of 16, Quarters, Semis, Final) of the Champions League - the bad news is we face Real Madrid as our first knock out opponent... EEEK! (Since starting this tome, this game has been played, see below!)
Premier League games are generally played at the weekend, Champions League games on Tues or Weds. However there are 2 other competitions that take up time on an English clubs schedule:
The FA (Football Association) Cup - this is the oldest (125 yrs) cup in football history. This is a knockout competition that any club registered with the FA, even those playing in the minor 'leagues' below the 4 listed above can (in theory) win. The top league teams don't even enter until the latter knockout rounds (gets rid of MOST of the small teams first) and inevitably a team from the Premier League wins it - I think the last time a team from outside the top league won it was back in the 80’s!
The League Cup - Basically a poor mans FA Cup, open to any team in the top 4 leagues (as listed above). This is a competition the bigger clubs don’t really take seriously unless they get into the semi finals say. Often you will see the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc fielding squad players in this cup, only using their big name stars if they progress to the latter stages.
So, as you can see a team that is competing on all stages, in all these competitions can be stretched pretty thin. Some games ARE more important than others. Arsenals victory on the 21st, against Real Madrid in the Champions League was a big deal, made bigger still by the fact we were missing something like 5 of our usual first team players!
I hope this goes some way to clearing things up a little...
dvb
Ok, so here’s the lowdown on the Football Season etc.
There are 4 leagues in England - The Premier League, The Championship, League 1 and League 2.
The FA Premier League - You only need worry about 'The Prem' (Arsenal have NEVER been out of the top league). It consists of 20 teams who play each other twice - once at home and once away - which means a total of 38 Premier League games a season. A team is rewarded 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw (this stands true in ALL league set ups in any competition in the world, to the best of my knowledge), whoever has the most points after all 38 games are played is the Champion, if two teams have the same points total, factors such as goal difference (goals scored v goals allowed), results against each other etc come into play.
At the end of each Premier League Season two things happen:
1 - The 3 teams with the lowest points total (#’s 18, 19 and 20) are relegated to The Championship for the next season. The Championship winners and runners up go up to the Premiership, the 3rd spot is filled by the winner of a play off consisting of the teams place 3rd through 6th in the Championship. Got it?
2 - The Premier League Champions and runners up go straight into next Seasons UEFA (United European Football Associations) Champions League,, the 3rd and 4th team go into a play off scenario. The Champions League is basically what used to be called the European Cup. The best teams from all the leagues in Europe go on to compete to be crowned the best club team in Europe. So if your Champion of England in 2005, you could go on to be Champion of Europe in 2006. However, because of how the Domestic Leagues are weighted (England, Spain, and Italy (the top 3 leagues) all get 4 teams going into the CL, the Dutch League gets just 1 automatic place, get it?), some countries get more teams progressing to the CL. The CL is BIGGGGGGG money which is why a top 4 place is such a big deal in the Premier League. What is crazy about the Champions League is that often it's not the team that finished Champs of the nation that go on to win the European Cup. Liverpool are the current Champions of Europe, however they qualified for the tournament as only the 4th best team in England from the season before. I hope this is clear. So no, Arsenal are NOT doing well in the Premier League this year (currently 5th!) but we are into the knock out stages (Round of 16, Quarters, Semis, Final) of the Champions League - the bad news is we face Real Madrid as our first knock out opponent... EEEK! (Since starting this tome, this game has been played, see below!)
Premier League games are generally played at the weekend, Champions League games on Tues or Weds. However there are 2 other competitions that take up time on an English clubs schedule:
The FA (Football Association) Cup - this is the oldest (125 yrs) cup in football history. This is a knockout competition that any club registered with the FA, even those playing in the minor 'leagues' below the 4 listed above can (in theory) win. The top league teams don't even enter until the latter knockout rounds (gets rid of MOST of the small teams first) and inevitably a team from the Premier League wins it - I think the last time a team from outside the top league won it was back in the 80’s!
The League Cup - Basically a poor mans FA Cup, open to any team in the top 4 leagues (as listed above). This is a competition the bigger clubs don’t really take seriously unless they get into the semi finals say. Often you will see the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc fielding squad players in this cup, only using their big name stars if they progress to the latter stages.
So, as you can see a team that is competing on all stages, in all these competitions can be stretched pretty thin. Some games ARE more important than others. Arsenals victory on the 21st, against Real Madrid in the Champions League was a big deal, made bigger still by the fact we were missing something like 5 of our usual first team players!
I hope this goes some way to clearing things up a little...
dvb