I would point out that Chelsea did qualify for the Europa League by their League Position last season !!!

Can UEFA please realise that ALL 4 of the Semi
Finalists started in the Champions League before being kicked out

But I mean they shouldn't be in it because of failing in another competition. I know they qualified through their league position, however they didn't take part in the competition until they'd failed in the CL. That's what I'm referring to.

Not too fussed on the 3rd placed UCL teams should play in the UEL, although probably rather not see it but in some ways it can be good, or can see why it is done. If you move away from this 'failure pish' for a minute I can see some rational with it.

In the Europa group stages we take the 24 best teams, thus getting rid of teams not deemed good enough. the 8 UCL teams joining are of similar or maybe better quality than the UEL, therefore adding to the quality.

In theory the way the quality of the UCL/UEL works out as the 3rd placed UCL teams are of the same quality as many of the existing UEL teams. Look at Benfica. Found it difficult in the UCL but are showing they have the quality for this competition.

It is great for teams lower down in the European pecking order (Such as Cluj or Viktoria Plzeň) that rightly may deserve their champions league place for winning their league, but clearly will struggle and if they finish 3rd they go into the '2nd tier' competition and have a chance to compete with teams potentially at their level. It's a great platform for nations outside tier 1. Chelsea are maybe being picked on a bit more, as they shouldn't be in it because they should be qualifying for the knock-out stages of the UCL, but that's where things are. For me the UEL is better for having Chelsea and Benfica in many respects. Great quality in the last four of both competitions this season.

Similarly I think UCL drop outs in the August qualifiers for me for the same reasons above should get their chance at the 'second tier' and potentially 'their level' of opposition.

This 'reward for failure' thing for me isn't how i look at it. If you are a club like Cluj, Celtic or BATE for example it is a failure if you don't qualify for the UCL in August. Lot of money is potentially lost, and chance to play with heavy-weight clubs. The Europa for some of these clubs isn't a 'reward' at all really, but these clubs carry on with the same passion/support from fans in the Europa League playing some very strong teams and teams of their own level.

My opinion there. Respect yours Stevvy, just trying to work through this rationally from my perspective at it, although wouldn't be bothered if they turned round tmw and said they were scraping the 3rd place UCL thing! I do agree semi-finals at Wembley/Hampden is stupid though. FINAL ONLY! Use two neutral grounds for Semi's.

I think the reason why UEFA do it is to avoid the embarrassment of having a host of dead matches in the CL Group Stages

If only 2 went through(and no reward fro third) the fourth place side would have nothing to play for after maybe only 4 of the 6 games

It makes you wonder if there was any point having a group stage last autumn

I also respect yours. It may add to the quality, but I just feel it's wrong. It does feel like reward for failure to me, but people have different opinions which is fine. Maybe it's partly because I feel like if you've qualified for a tournament by right, to then be beaten by a team who in effect didn't qualify is wrong. Technically they may have qualified having finished 3rd in the CL, but the way I see it they haven't qualified, and therefore shouldn't be in it. That's just the way I see it though.

I wonder if the broadcaster will be happy that from an English point of view next seasons teams are Wigan, Swansea, and probably Spurs?

Has that happened before since 3rd placed CL teams started entering the EL in 2003-04?

ITV won't mind at all as they have the first 2 picks. They'll choose Swansea & the 5th placed team (Spurs/Arsenal) - if it's Arsenal they'll be secretly delighted!

It's a huge blow for BT Sport, whose first season with the Europa League third pick will be Wigan for the group stages, unless Celtic lose in CL qualification play off, then they'll have their big audience too!
I'm sure they will be hoping one of the top 4 finish 3rd in the CL group, giving them a chance at better games with the third pick!

Well they all play good football and I suppose Swansea could move to buy a few more bargains to improve their squad

It would depend on what sort of attitude these clubs have ofcourse...Swansea playing their reserves would not be attractive I guess.

It could have been Millwall or Blackburn rather than Wigan so they've got the best option!

Spot on & as a neutral, if Arsenal finish 5th, I can look forward to an ITV double header with them & Swansea once a fortnight. I'd love to see that and look forward to it much more than previous years!

As said above if Celtic end up in the Europa after being knocked out of Champions League qualifying I presume they are a certain 2nd choice for ITV with Arsenal or Tottenham the 5th placed English team. That is assuming the 4th placed English get through qualifying.

If not then can STV take different picks to ITV ? As STV would want Celtic whereas ITV would want the 4th and 5th placed English teams.

There's no guarantee England will have 3 teams in EL group phase.

Wigan are in but Spurs/Arsenal will have to get through play-off and Swansea will have to get through 3rd qual round + play-off.

Obviously Spurs/Arsenal should get through but real chance Swansea don't make it.

Swansea would have to get an extremely unfortunate draw not to get through, as the standard in qualifying rounds isn't the best. Swansea would be seeded for play off too so should be safe!

Scotland have fallen so far down that Celtic have the following Hurdles to jump through

Champions League

1 Start in Qualy R 2 (OUT of Europe if they lose)
2 Then Play in Qualy R 3 (Into Europa Qual if they lose)
3 Then Play in Qualy R 4 (Into Europa Group if they lose)

Europa League
If they lost above in R3 they would then still have to win
Europa Qualie R 4 to get into Group !!!!

Yes they are seeded for Round Three

BUT at the moment (Unsure who will be there yet) they are only seeded 28 out of 31 in the Last Qualifying Round

If three more teams higher ranked make it through then they could have to play the likes of Fiorentina Stuttgart Dynamo Kiev Lille or Club Bruges ???

I remember when they used to start in final qualifying !

How many Scottish team qualifying for the Europa League and at what stage do they enter ? I presume the very early rounds.

Scotland has three EL berths. Their top team (either Hibs as cup winners or Motherwell if Celtic win the cup) starts in QR3, the other two in QR2.

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/...ccess2013.html
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/qual2013.html

That's what I mean, they'd have to get an unfortunate draw. As even on your tough teams list, they'd expect to beat brugge and possibly lille as favourites.

Regarding Scotland, now rangers are gone and only one team are really contributing to the uefa coefficient, it will only get worse!

I think we (Swans) will be playing largely our first team, and we are bolstering our squad in readiness, but this doesn't mean we will be successful of course.

Where do you get info from.

Going by last year, Newcastle were comfortably seeded for the Play off round (and they like us relied entirely on the base English points total)

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/...eedel2012.html

The Current seeding for the Europa League for 2013/14 is still very much up in the air.

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/...eedel2013.html

There was a time as well when the Swans were featured on ITV European coverage, in the late 80s when we played Panathinaikos, at a time when English clubs were banned from Europe. Thankfully football has moved on since then.

Last year, 104 European clubs had more points than England's base coefficient. This year, the number will rise to 114.

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/...trank2013.html
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/...trank2012.html

Thanks for those, but I am already using them for my lists, of course if Chelsea were to win the Europa then that increase the base points for England.

However saying that I was under the impression that the Seeding List for 2014 was used for 2013-14, when in fact it is Seeding List for 2013.

So a definite thanks for that.

Here

https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?...Ab2C_o0FkXQ7Ng

Click on the EL tag

Wigan are now into the Group Stages

As Birmingham City found out they will have a fixture nightmare

The Championship tend to play a full midweek fixture list on at least 3 of the Europa League weeks !!!