Other Domestic Leagues 17/18

[HajdukSplit]

It might have been more than 5,000 but it was no larger than 10K. They average like 2-3K for most domestic matches. There are matches in the Croatian league among the smaller teams where 100-200 people show up. The problem is the league is becoming too centralized with a bunch of Zagreb suburb teams with no support. Next season there will be Dinamo, Lokomotiva, Zapresic, Gorica, Rudes; half the league within a 20km radius and only one has any fanbase (Dinamo) which is largely disenfranchised with the club

 

[Ivan13]

Dinamo has sadly become riddled with leaches, mobsters and persons whose only interest is to make money at club's expense. Not to mention that the stadium is a dump. It's quite frankly amazing that this club managed to develop guys like Modrić, Kovačić, Mandžukić, Ćorluka, Lovren, Brozović, Badelj, Vrsaljko, Vida, Kramarić etc.

 

[Savi]

The problem is the league is becoming too centralized with a bunch of Zagreb suburb teams with no support. Next season there will be Dinamo, Lokomotiva, Zapresic, Gorica, Rudes; half the league within a 20km radius and only one has any fanbase (Dinamo) which is largely disenfranchised with the club

Also saw that Dinamo's B team finished joint runners up in the second division, so they basically could have two teams in the top division

Anyway, I think all but two European leagues have been decided at this point.
In Slovenia, Olimpija Ljubljana (79 pts) and Maribor (77 pts) go into the final matchday with everything on the line. Olimpija have the toughest task, away at 3rd place Domzale. Maribor have a winnable fixture at home. Olimpija only need one point to clinch the title, they hold the tiebreaker over Maribor by virtue of head-to-head away goals scored.
In Hungary either Videoton (65 pts) or Ferencvaros (62 pts) will be champions. There are two matchdays left, Ferencvaros have the easiest schedule with two bottom teams, Videoton still have to play reigning champions and 3rd placed Honved in their next game before they close out against one of the bottom teams as well. Videoton have won two more games than Ferencvaros, which is the first tiebreaker, so they only need 1 win to clinch.

 

[sabremike]

Serbia

In Croatia, Zagreb specifically, they don't even celebrate titles anymore because nobody cares. On the final day of the season Dinamo had to give away free tickets and t-shirts just to get 5K people in the stadium

When Rijeka won it was a huge party, if Hajduk ever win it, Split might explode, in Zagreb basically the players/club officials celebrate on their own

If they put the shirts on the seats did any of you guys happen to grab some off the empty seats you can send me??? That was actually something funny at a Sixers home opener a few years back where they put shirts on all 20k seats. Unfortunately only 15k showed up so there were sections in the upper deck that were pretty much empty. I ended up with a tote bag filled with about 20 shirts

 

[maclean]

Final match day in the Czech league today. Plzeň has already clinched the title and Brno has "clinched" relegation (in the same year their hockey team won the championship), but there's still something to play for in terms of the other top spots and the second team to get relegated is also quite up in the air with four teams in the mix.

Interesting if unclear things going on around Slavia, who should manage second place which I believe will put them in CL qualifiers this year due to how things trickled down. They are however owned by Chinese company CEFC, which has had a lot of turmoil going on back home and recently one of their stakeholders here shut out the board of directors (interesingly that stakeholder though is tied to the owner of their rival Sparta..)

 

[HajdukSplit]

Olimpija Ljubljana win the Slovenian league title after a 1:1 draw with Domzale (they won a penalty kick in the 80th minute, the match almost lasted into the 100th minute as visiting Olimpija fans ran on the pitch celebrating the title prematurely). They had the same number of points as Maribor but the tie-breaker in Slovenia is H2H. Their manager Igor Biscan now has won league titles in consecutive seasons, last season he won the Croatian second division title with Rudes, never did I think he would become somewhat of a successful manager, he always seemed miserable and a bothered personality

 

[sabremike]

If Rudes had a two toned kit and their club anthem was "A Message To You Rudie" they would be my new favorite club in the world.

 

[maclean]

Olimpija Ljubljana win the Slovenian league title after a 1:1 draw with Domzale (they won a penalty kick in the 80th minute, the match almost lasted into the 100th minute as visiting Olimpija fans ran on the pitch celebrating the title prematurely). They had the same number of points as Maribor but the tie-breaker in Slovenia is H2H. Their manager Igor Biscan now has won league titles in consecutive seasons, last season he won the Croatian second division title with Rudes, never did I think he would become somewhat of a successful manager, he always seemed miserable and a bothered personality

Wow, I can't remember seeing anyone other than Maribor in Europe, though I see Olimpija won the year before last as well

 

[Alklha]

Olimpija Ljubljana win the Slovenian league title after a 1:1 draw with Domzale (they won a penalty kick in the 80th minute, the match almost lasted into the 100th minute as visiting Olimpija fans ran on the pitch celebrating the title prematurely). They had the same number of points as Maribor but the tie-breaker in Slovenia is H2H. Their manager Igor Biscan now has won league titles in consecutive seasons, last season he won the Croatian second division title with Rudes, never did I think he would become somewhat of a successful manager, he always seemed miserable and a bothered personality

They really done their best to throw away a big lead. They drew 6 of their last 10 games, but they stumbled over the line because of their 3-2 away to Maribor a couple of weeks back, thanks to Handanović gifting them the winner in the last minute.

 

[John Pedro]

Some young players that are doing really well in Brasileirao that you guys should keep tabs on for draft purposes and that soon will be in Europe.

Lucas Paqueta - 20y old, CM/AM, Flamengo - 3 goals, 1 assist in 7 games
Flamengo's new coach moved him to a more central position and he's become a beast. Best player on the team that leads the table. He's got it all: great dribbling, passing, work extremely hard defensively and score goals.

Vinicius Jr - 17y old, W, Flamengo - 4 goals, 3 assist in 8 games
He's finally living up to the hype. An electrifying player who's always involved in Flamengo's best scoring chances. Still loses the ball way too much, but he makes up with goals and assist. Hope Madrid let him stay in Brazil for another season.

Eder Militão, 20y old, RB/CB/DM, São Paulo FC - 1 goal in 6 games
Not the tipical Brazilian RB, he doesn't posses the pace and skill you would expect but he's a wall defensively, dominates the air and is a good passer. Still, RB is not his position, he plays there cause SPFC doesn't have anyone better at the position.

Pedro - 20y old, Striker, Fluminense - 5 goals, 2 assist in 8 games
He's a old school striker similar to Giroud. Has good link up play and is a major threat in the air. Leads the league in goals.

Pedrinho, 20y old, W, Corinthians - 0 in 7 games
This kid has soo much upside. He's a fantastic dribbler, he's fast, he's incredibly creative and he's got a good and potent long shoot. Think about Malcom with better dribbling and creativity. Unfortunaly, he lacks the strenght to be more efetive against men. Earlier in the year he was diagnostic with anemia.

Igor Liziero - 20y old, CM/LB, São Paulo FC - 0 in 6
Call me a homer, but this kid is the Brazilian Modric. He won the MVP award in the Copa SP u20 earlier in the year as a Left back but he's really special in the midfield. He's got futsal like dribbling, he's fast, he's got great passing range and vision, he's fantastic escaping from pressing. Needs to be more intense without the ball which cost his starting job in a very intense and hard working Diego Aguirre's team.

some vids

 

[Ivan13]

The grey eminence of Croatian football and its most prominent undertaker has been sentenced to 6 and a half years in jail for his role in bribing people, taking bribes, tax fraud etc, the verdict needs neds to be confirmed and be made valid still. He also needs to return 65milion kunas, which is about 9 million Euros. His brother got sentenced to 4 years in jail and the acting president of the Croatian Football Federation Damir Vrbanović got sentenced to three years in jail. Mamić inexplicably was let to leave the country yesterday, in yet another shining example of the mighty judicial system of ours and is currently in BiH, in Međugorje. The most hilarious part of it all being that he yesterday took a picture in front of a sign that is there to warn the tourists about thieves

PS

Hopefully, this is the first step to us fans finally getting the club we love back, and the first step to the end of mamić and his cronies who got rich on the backs of the club.

 

[Savi]

Good to hear. I'm actually kinda surprised something like this happened, finally. From everything you heard it seems Mamic (& friends) had so much power, they would have been able to just go on.

 

[Ivan13]

Well nothing is done yet. It's easilly possible this will fall apart in the appeal court, and given he is a citizen of BiH as well he doesn't need to be extradited. It's possible this drags on for years and years sadly.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Yeah the fact he was able to 'run' to BiH says it all about Croatia, I don't live there but know enough its a corrupt country and the fact Mamic has friends in high places doesn't cover me with confidence. Though apparently this is the case just dealing with Lovren/Modric? There are many more charges against him even from the Swiss and Americans?

Don't see how this will change anything involved with the HNS, in fact I fear Mamic will still find his way in Russia and will be sitting in the VIP lounge come the first game

 

[Ivan13]

He just went there to pray for the sanity and for Virgin Mary to enlighten the judge. Someone should've told him she doesn't take requests. Absolutely hilarious that the biggest crooks who always have their hand in another man's pocket need to throw their connection with God out there. I assume God told him to embezle money.

Oh yeah, the halfwit said he doesn't know how Luka and Lovren can play for a country that prosecuted him. Always the victim.