Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[Mike88]

FCPorto has won the Portuguese Championship!!!

Porto defeated Benfica in Luz Stadium 0-1, Zaidu scored. This is also Porto's 100th victory against Benfica, and its 30th Championship win!!

PORTO ALLEZ, PORTO ALLEZ!! I'm now going to celebrate.    

[NewYorkExpress]

Great defensive duel ongoing in a very important, must-win game between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool needs the win to pass Manchester City for the English Premier League lead, while Tottenham needs the win to pass Arsenal for fourth place and a Champions League spot.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester United officially eliminated from Champions League contention with their 4-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion.

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Meanwhile, both the battle for the Premier League Title and the Battle for 4th place will go down to the wire.

The title fight between Manchester City and Liverpool will end on the final day, following Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. Liverpool has three games left, against Aston Villa, Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Manchester City faces Newcastle United tomorrow, then goes on to face Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United and Aston Villa to close out the season.

In the battle for fourth, Tottenham's draw with Liverpool means they remain a point behind Arsenal for fourth. Arsenal plays Leeds United tomorrow in an important game for both teams (Arsenal needs the win to stay in fourth, Leeds needs the win to avoid being relegated), and then finishes the season with a massive clash against Tottenham on Thursday, followed by games against Newcastle United and Everton, while Tottenham Hotspur, ends their season with the game against Arsenal, followed by games against Burnley and Norwich City.

[Santander]

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Um, no, they haven't. Not even close. Please stop posting your garbage.

[NewYorkExpress]

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Um, no, they haven't. Not even close. Please stop posting your garbage.

West Ham would need to win out, and that isn't happening (they aren't beating Manchester City, and I don't think they'll beat Brighton & Hove Albion either).

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Salernitana looked all but certain to stay in the top flight for the first time until a 99th minute corner from Cagliari overpowered the hand of the keeper. It remains a 50-50 prospect.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1523704222914859008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etf...

[JGibson]

Effective with the 2024-25 season, the UCL will have a new format that'll feature 36 teams in a Swiss style format. The same also applies to the UEL and UECL. 

Two of the 4 extra slots in the UCL will come through past European performance.

UEFA:

Following an exhaustive consultation with stakeholders in the game, the UEFA Executive Committee has today in Vienna approved the final format and access list for European club competitions as of the 2024/25 season further to its decision of 19 April 2021 to introduce the so-called “Swiss system”.

The key amendments relate to the reduction from 10 matches to 8 in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League and the change of criteria for the allocation of two of the four additional places in the UEFA Champions League, removing access based on club coefficient. This confirms UEFA’s strong commitment to the principle of open competitions and sporting merit, while recognising the need to protect domestic leagues.

The eight matches of the UEFA Champions League will be played over the ten European weeks foreseen by the decision made in April 2021. The UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League will all enjoy one week of calendar exclusivity.

The four additional places created by the increase from 32 to 36 teams in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League will be allocated as follows:

• One place will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the UEFA national association ranking.

• One place will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the so-called “Champions Path”.

• The final two places will go to the associations with the best collective performance by their clubs in the previous season (total number of points obtained divided by the number of participating clubs). Those two associations will earn one place for the club best ranked in the domestic league behind the UEFA Champions League positions. For example, at the end of the current season the two associations adding one club to the Champions League, based on the collective performance of their clubs would be England and the Netherlands.



[...]



The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.

Similar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (8 matches in the league stage) and UEFA Europa Conference League (6 matches in the league stage) and both will also include 36 teams in the league phase.

[JGibson]

The FIFA series in EA Sports is no more, as of July 2023. FIFA 23 will be the last game under the FIFA license with EA Sports. Effective July 2023, the series will become EA Sports FC.

https://twitter.com/EASPORTSFIFA/status/1524054021186768896

[JGibson]

Sp*rs manage to cut the Top 4 deficit to 1, as Tottenham thrash a 10-men Arsenal 3-nil. Arsenal will be at least one and likely two CBs down, as Rob Holding got sent off for getting two yellows and Gabriel went off injured.


Hope and pray Burnley and Norwich beat Tottenham, and Arsenal win against Newcastle and Everton.

[Santander]

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Um, no, they haven't. Not even close. Please stop posting your garbage.

West Ham would need to win out, and that isn't happening (they aren't beating Manchester City, and I don't think they'll beat Brighton & Hove Albion either).

Hello. Wrong again. Again, please stop posting your garbage. Not a single thing you have ever posted in this thread or previous versions has been remotely tethered to reality. Sometimes you can't even regurgitate scores correctly.

[Santander]

First openly gay footballer in England in decades.

[JGibson]

5 days ago, Arsenal had a 4-point lead in the table for 4th place. Now, they are behind Sp*rs by 2 points as we head to the 38th and final matchweek, as Newcastle beat the Gunners 2-nil.

For Arsenal to get Top 4, Sp*rs have to lose to already relegated Norwich and Arsenal have to beat Everton on Sunday.

[Lechasseur]

5 days ago, Arsenal had a 4-point lead in the table for 4th place. Now, they are behind Sp*rs by 2 points as we head to the 38th and final matchweek, as Newcastle beat the Gunners 2-nil.

For Arsenal to get Top 4, Sp*rs have to lose to already relegated Norwich and Arsenal have to beat Everton on Sunday.

Ugh, probably over for Arsenal in all honesty

[NewYorkExpress]

Kylain Mbappe has agreed to a deal with Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappe has agreed personal terms with Real Madrid, The Athletic understands.

The 23-year-old has not yet signed paperwork with Real and Paris Saint-Germain, his current club, are still trying to convince him to change his mind.

Mbappe’s contract with French champions PSG runs out at the end of the season and he is able to move to Real for free in the summer.

Real have been very confident for a significant period of time that Mbappe is coming to the Santiago Bernabeu and are just waiting for his signature, which they expect to come once PSG’s season is over.

[afleitch]

[JGibson]

Eintracht Frankfurt won the 2022 UEL Final in penalties 1-1 (5-4 on penalties). As a result of Eintracht's win and placement outside the Top 7 of the Bundesliga table, Germany gets 5 UCL places (Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, and the aforementioned Eintracht) and 8 UEFA places (5 UCL + 2 UEL + 1 UECL) next year.

Everton came back from a 2-nil halftime hole to win 3-2 over Crystal Palace to clinch safety for another season in the Premier League and Burnley drew Aston Villa 1-1, leaving Burnley and Leeds level on points but Burnley is out of the drop zone due to better goal differential.

The title race between Liverpool and Manchester City will come down to Sunday.

[JGibson]

2021-22 PL in review: 


Manchester City win title, Burnley get relegated, West Ham head to the UECL, Arsenal and Manchester United head to the UEL, and Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham head to the UCL.

[Lechasseur]

2021-22 PL in review: 


Manchester City win title, Burnley get relegated, West Ham head to the UECL, Arsenal and Manchester United head to the UEL, and Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham head to the UCL.

Eww

[Santander]

€50m net annual salary for Mbappe, plus €100m sign on bonus. This makes Messi's old Barcelona contract and Ronaldo's old Juventus contract look quaint.

[NewYorkExpress]

€50m net annual salary for Mbappe, plus €100m sign on bonus. This makes Messi's old Barcelona contract and Ronaldo's old Juventus contract look quaint.

How is PSG not committing Financial Fair play violations with that deal?

[Santander]

€50m net annual salary for Mbappe, plus €100m sign on bonus. This makes Messi's old Barcelona contract and Ronaldo's old Juventus contract look quaint.

How is PSG not committing Financial Fair play violations with that deal?

Because they are a marketing machine that is owned by the richest country in the world, has 3 out of the 4 biggest names in the sport, and has a monopoly on the world's most prestigious city name, at least from a branding perspective.

[Lechasseur]

€50m net annual salary for Mbappe, plus €100m sign on bonus. This makes Messi's old Barcelona contract and Ronaldo's old Juventus contract look quaint.

OK That explains why M'Bappé stayed. PSG must have really had something up their sleeve to keep him, given he had wanted to go to Real so badly.

[Mike88]

Jesus, those people climbing the bars at the Stade de France without tickets...

[Santander]

Carlo is the GOAT. This run has shades of Chelsea 2012 - on the back foot for most of the knockout rounds, but wins on mental strength alone.