Europa Conference League 2021-22: the Road to Tirana, Albania

[SirHarryHotspur]

I find all the rules of these Euro comps mind blowing , if Celtic or Rangers do badly in Euro League could they end up in the conference league in the knockout stages.?

 

[easley91]

Toughest couple of teams we could get in Rennes and Vitesse. Certainly can't be taking them lightly.

 

[spursfan77]

We could have had an easier draw. No doubt the big names will have to come to the rescue when the second string fails to produce.

 

[degoose]

Hi there. Besides being Spurs fan I am also fan of Mura. It is my local team. I live in Murska Sobota (Slovenia) which is a small town with population of just 15k people. I live less than a mile away from the stadion. Club was founded more than 50 yrs ago but it went bankrupt twice so last official date of birth is around 9 years ago.

Mura started in 5th league 9 yrs ago and continously climbed leagues. 2 years ago we were cup winners and last year 1st league winners. All this with no any financial boost, just proper work with academy sustainable strategy. Sounds romantic but it still happens, yes

Being drawn into the same group as Tottenham is absolutely cherry on top for everyone around the club and especialy me. I can not believe it simply. It will be absolute walk for Spurs but doesnt matter.

Oh, and the match wont be placed in Murska Sobota as Stadion Fazanerija is not approved by UEFA for such occasions but will take place in Maribor (Stadion Ljudski Vrt). Spurs already faced NK Maribor there few yrs ago. It is 60km away from Murska Sobota so nothing prevents me from buzzing to see Spurs (against Mura!!) for 2nd time in my life.

Cheers to everyone from Spurs&Mura supporter, See you!

Thank you for all the information, that's a great read. I'm pretty clued up with european teams as i watch a ton of football not just spurs but the slovenian league is one i don't really know much about. That's a pity spurs won't be playing in the Mura ground but great news you can watch the game. Hope you can post some pics from the match when it takes place.

 

[Caco]

Have questioned our presence in this competition, not from the fact that some may feel its beneath us, but this competition was designed to benefit teams from countries with lower Euro Coefficients. Essentially, ourselves, Rennes, Union Berlin & Roma shouldn't be here, this competition is for the likes of Mura.

Given that the four teams mentioned shouldn't be here, how have the seedings allowed us and Rennes to be drawn in the same group.

Anyway, if we are in it we should try to win it.

 

[Oscar22]

I do wish competitions were just outright. As in, the teams from today, one of those wins the conference league, the Europa draw yesterday, is won by one of the teams in the Europa draw. Same for the champions league.

All this where teams get knocked out of one competition and fall in to another just takes something away for me - when you’re out, you should be out.

I get why they do it and the financial aspects involved, I just wish they didn’t.

 

[cwy21]

I find all the rules of these Euro comps mind blowing , if Celtic or Rangers do badly in Euro League could they end up in the conference league in the knockout stages.?

It's been a thing with 3rd place CL dropping into EL knockout stages for years. Now it just continues one step down.

 

[deka-]

I find all the rules of these Euro comps mind blowing , if Celtic or Rangers do badly in Euro League could they end up in the conference league in the knockout stages.?

Yes, every 1st placed team goes straight to round of 16, every 2nd placed team has to play a playoff against a team that finished 3rd in their Europa League group.

 

[mpickard2087]

Will be a bit of a test of our application and attitude.

The Slovenian team we'll discount. Vitesse maybe a step up from Paços, so as we've seen already will need respecting, but I'd expect us to have enough to see them off. Rennes though have some good players and are no mugs, will take some seeing off.

We need to be looking to win the group, means one less round of the competition and we avoid a Europa team dropping down - potentially one as good as anything in the competition - at an early stage.

 

[Marty]

Have questioned our presence in this competition, not from the fact that some may feel its beneath us, but this competition was designed to benefit teams from countries with lower Euro Coefficients. Essentially, ourselves, Rennes, Union Berlin & Roma shouldn't be here, this competition is for the likes of Mura.

Given that the four teams mentioned shouldn't be here, how have the seedings allowed us and Rennes to be drawn in the same group.

Anyway, if we are in it we should try to win it.

Simple UEFA coefficient and Rennes having done very little in Europe in the last five years.

 

[BosSpurs08]

Have questioned our presence in this competition, not from the fact that some may feel its beneath us, but this competition was designed to benefit teams from countries with lower Euro Coefficients. Essentially, ourselves, Rennes, Union Berlin & Roma shouldn't be here, this competition is for the likes of Mura.

Given that the four teams mentioned shouldn't be here, how have the seedings allowed us and Rennes to be drawn in the same group.

Anyway, if we are in it we should try to win it.

Might be an optimistic take but I kind of like the idea that this competition is giving clubs from these smaller leagues a chance to experience European football. In the context of widening inequality in the footballing world (driven in no small part by deliberate choices by FIFA, UEFA and large clubs/leagues), perhaps this can serve a similar role that the FA cup does here at spreading some wealth downwards. The prize money isn't large by UK standards but I imagine would go a long way in, say, the Slovenian or Estonian leagues.

In that light Spurs/Roma/Rennes are sort of necessary in terms of drawing eyeballs/viewers to make it all work. Hopefully clubs like United/Chelsea will play the cash cow role in the coming years instead of us.

 

[cwy21]

Have questioned our presence in this competition, not from the fact that some may feel its beneath us, but this competition was designed to benefit teams from countries with lower Euro Coefficients.

A majority of the teams are from nations with lower coeffcients. It sounds like they were properly benefited. No one ever said it would only be teams from lower ranked countries.

 

[Yid-ol]

Have questioned our presence in this competition, not from the fact that some may feel its beneath us, but this competition was designed to benefit teams from countries with lower Euro Coefficients. Essentially, ourselves, Rennes, Union Berlin & Roma shouldn't be here, this competition is for the likes of Mura.

Given that the four teams mentioned shouldn't be here, how have the seedings allowed us and Rennes to be drawn in the same group.

Anyway, if we are in it we should try to win it.

Points earned over the last so many seasons, I would guess Berlin and Rennes haven't been as good as they used to be over the last so many years so not gone far or been in Europe much?

Which is why it's good to get as many wins as we can in this comp, as in a couple if years it will help in the CL

 

[robbiedee]

Don't know a great deal about the teams we've drawn. People saying Rennes and Vitesse will prove a tough test...maybe - just depends how THFC approach this competition.

More happy that Slovenia is the furthest we have to travel and we could easily rest our key players for that leg.

 

[SirNiNyHotspur]

It's been a thing with 3rd place CL dropping into EL knockout stages for years. Now it just continues one step down.

Makes the conference more prestigious if the likes of the mighty Ludogorets or Midtjylland get relegated down, would make our Audi Cup success seem insignificant.

 

[The Apprentice]

Might have to go fairly strong, but we’ll cruise that group.

 

[Amo]

I find all the rules of these Euro comps mind blowing , if Celtic or Rangers do badly in Euro League could they end up in the conference league in the knockout stages.?

Makes more sense now that it's three tiers, actually. Almost becomes three divisions with in-season "relegation" where clubs can go from Champions League playoffs to Conference Leage.

Dunno why it feels less arbitrary now than when it was between just two competitions.

Do think they should make the prize for winning it a UCL playoff place instead of a EL group stage place.

 

[Saoirse]

Makes more sense now that it's three tiers, actually. Almost becomes three divisions with in-season "relegation" where clubs can go from Champions League playoffs to Conference Leage.

Dunno why it feels less arbitrary now than when it was between just two competitions.

Do think they should make the prize for winning it a UCL playoff place instead of a EL group stage place.

I'd say that isn't on accident. Sooner or later they'll want to mostly replace direct qualification through domestic leagues with promotion and relegation between the tournaments each year.

 

[Montalbano]

I’m excited we’ve drawn some of the stronger teams in the competition. Will be a good test for our second XI.

 

[easley91]

It'll be nice to see Camavinga against us, provided he stays with Rennes. Also have Doku and Nzonzi! Nzonzi is a blast from the past.