Other domestic leagues 2020/21
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Savi
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Genk have won the Belgian Cup, they beat Standard 2-1 in the Final, avenging their 2018 Final loss which Standard won 1-0 in OT
So Genk will be the Belgian representatives in the EL next season, unless they finish in the Top 2 and go to the CL, then the 3rd placed team (Antwerp or Anderlecht) will go to EL
Genk will likely see some players leave again in the summer, as per usual since they might be the best team in Belgium developing youg players. One player who likely won't leave (yet) but I'd like so single out is young Norwegian midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt. Just turned 22 and they signed him 15 months ago for €1.5m from Stavanger. Sander Berge was on the verge of leaving for Sheffield and Thorstvedt immediately was appointed his successor. He played the same position (holding midfielder) for a while but didn't do very well, now for the past couple of months he's been Genk's most advanced midfielder, playing in behind striker Onuachu, and he's thriving. He's really strong, very smart, good technique, and has a knack for scoring timely goals. Another season playing like this and some big club will come for him no doubt.
So Genk will be the Belgian representatives in the EL next season, unless they finish in the Top 2 and go to the CL, then the 3rd placed team (Antwerp or Anderlecht) will go to EL
Genk will likely see some players leave again in the summer, as per usual since they might be the best team in Belgium developing youg players. One player who likely won't leave (yet) but I'd like so single out is young Norwegian midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt. Just turned 22 and they signed him 15 months ago for €1.5m from Stavanger. Sander Berge was on the verge of leaving for Sheffield and Thorstvedt immediately was appointed his successor. He played the same position (holding midfielder) for a while but didn't do very well, now for the past couple of months he's been Genk's most advanced midfielder, playing in behind striker Onuachu, and he's thriving. He's really strong, very smart, good technique, and has a knack for scoring timely goals. Another season playing like this and some big club will come for him no doubt.
spintheblackcircle
Incoming!
- Mar 1, 2002
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Albion Rovers’ David Cox to retire after alleged mental health taunt
The Albion Rovers striker David Cox has said he is retiring from football after allegedly being mocked by a Stenhousemuir player over his mental health during Thursday’s 1-0 win in a Scottish League Two fixture.
Cox, who was named on the substitutes’ bench for the game at Ochilview Park, walked out of the stadium at half-time after the incident. The 32-year old said in a video on Facebook he was quitting the game after “again having to deal with some mental health shouts at football”.
Stenhousemuir said in a statement they would investigate a “verbal altercation” between Cox and their player Jonathan Tiffoney and refer the matter to the Scottish Football Association. Reuters was unable to reach Tiffoney for a comment.
Cox has previously spoken about living with anxiety and depression, and told Sky Sports in 2019 that he had considered killing himself after being abused over his mental health issues while playing for Cowdenbeath.
“They had a go at my mental health and told me I ‘should have done it right the first time’. I tried to speak to the referees about it but they didn’t want to know because they didn’t hear it ... So I am going to do something. I am leaving the game.”
The Albion Rovers striker David Cox has said he is retiring from football after allegedly being mocked by a Stenhousemuir player over his mental health during Thursday’s 1-0 win in a Scottish League Two fixture.
Cox, who was named on the substitutes’ bench for the game at Ochilview Park, walked out of the stadium at half-time after the incident. The 32-year old said in a video on Facebook he was quitting the game after “again having to deal with some mental health shouts at football”.
Stenhousemuir said in a statement they would investigate a “verbal altercation” between Cox and their player Jonathan Tiffoney and refer the matter to the Scottish Football Association. Reuters was unable to reach Tiffoney for a comment.
Cox has previously spoken about living with anxiety and depression, and told Sky Sports in 2019 that he had considered killing himself after being abused over his mental health issues while playing for Cowdenbeath.
“They had a go at my mental health and told me I ‘should have done it right the first time’. I tried to speak to the referees about it but they didn’t want to know because they didn’t hear it ... So I am going to do something. I am leaving the game.”
Zenit win the Russian title again
Still essentially a four team race for 2nd place which is a CL qualifying spot; Lokomotiv have the edge for now but Spartak have a game in hand at -2 points, Rubin and the surprising Sochi still 3 points back with two games to go. CSKA might miss out on Europe in general while Krasnodar who played in the CL this season will finish bottom half
Still essentially a four team race for 2nd place which is a CL qualifying spot; Lokomotiv have the edge for now but Spartak have a game in hand at -2 points, Rubin and the surprising Sochi still 3 points back with two games to go. CSKA might miss out on Europe in general while Krasnodar who played in the CL this season will finish bottom half
Savi
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Savi
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koyvoo
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- Nov 8, 2014
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Sporting are 1 point away from securing their first Portuguese league title since 2002.
Ruben Amorim will start getting attention for coaching jobs from some bigger clubs around Europe. He’s punched well a one his weight in his young coaching career, first with Braga and now with Sporting.
Ruben Amorim will start getting attention for coaching jobs from some bigger clubs around Europe. He’s punched well a one his weight in his young coaching career, first with Braga and now with Sporting.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes
Picked this up for $44 US:
Cliftonville, oldest club in all of Ireland. Not surprising they play in the north as the sport was not accepted by many down south for many years for historical reasons (There was outrage among many when Croke Park allowed the national side to play matches there while Lansdown Road was being refurbished).
Cliftonville, oldest club in all of Ireland. Not surprising they play in the north as the sport was not accepted by many down south for many years for historical reasons (There was outrage among many when Croke Park allowed the national side to play matches there while Lansdown Road was being refurbished).
Savi
Registered User
Turkey are having a very close title race, and with Fenerbahce's last minute win tonight and Galatasaray beating Besiktas it got even closer.
There's still two rounds to go, next Thursday and Sunday.
Besiktas 81
Fenerbahce 79
Galatasaray 78
Besiktas plays the 8th and 9th placed teams in their final two games. Fenerbahce plays the 6th and 17th ranked teams. Galatasaray might have the easiest schedule with games against the last, and the 14th ranked team.
However Besiktas does hold the H2H tiebreaker over both Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.
There's still two rounds to go, next Thursday and Sunday.
Besiktas 81
Fenerbahce 79
Galatasaray 78
Besiktas plays the 8th and 9th placed teams in their final two games. Fenerbahce plays the 6th and 17th ranked teams. Galatasaray might have the easiest schedule with games against the last, and the 14th ranked team.
However Besiktas does hold the H2H tiebreaker over both Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
- Aug 8, 2006
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I'd love to, but OM are a bit broke and are also on a young talented Frenchman from L2.
Dinamo win the Croatian league title with three games to spare, Osijek did give them a legit push but they ran out of steam (winless in four), however they will be the most legit contenders to challenge Dinamo in the next few years with their Orban crony ownership 
It seems they are in it for the long haul too, building a completely new modern stadium and they are part of (without getting too political) Orban's network of buying clubs in ethnic Hungarian minority areas (Osijek, Lendava, Sepsi, Dunajska Streda etc) and pumping decent amount of money into them, his teams in Slovakia and Romania have also seen vast improvement and the club in Serbia qualified for Europe in their first ever season in the top flight + hired Krstajic who coached Serbia in the World Cup.
Gorica is expected to compete in Europe for the first time in their history, but they will definitely be gutted in the off-season, already lost their manager and sporting director in the winter. Rijeka and Hajduk fighting for the final spot unless bottom of the league Istra somehow win the cup against Dinamo
It seems they are in it for the long haul too, building a completely new modern stadium and they are part of (without getting too political) Orban's network of buying clubs in ethnic Hungarian minority areas (Osijek, Lendava, Sepsi, Dunajska Streda etc) and pumping decent amount of money into them, his teams in Slovakia and Romania have also seen vast improvement and the club in Serbia qualified for Europe in their first ever season in the top flight + hired Krstajic who coached Serbia in the World Cup.Gorica is expected to compete in Europe for the first time in their history, but they will definitely be gutted in the off-season, already lost their manager and sporting director in the winter. Rijeka and Hajduk fighting for the final spot unless bottom of the league Istra somehow win the cup against Dinamo
Savi
Registered User
Speaking of Serbia, Zvezda are really destroying that league. 33 wins and 3 ties so far on the season, crazy stats.
Anyway in the relegation playoffs finished in Belgium and the second team promoted to the top division (after D2 winners Union) will be RFC Seraing.
It's a small club based just outside of Liege, it has a small stadium, a small fanbase, it's an ugly town, and through the years they have gone bankrupt more times than I can count.
Also they are currently under investigation because a couple of months ago when some players tested positive for COVID, they exchanged those for negative tests from U21 players
So it's a club with a rocky past, their best spell came in the early '90s when a rich businessman took over. They finished in 3rd place in 1993 and played in the UEFA Cup the next season, however in 1996 the owner pulled the plug and the club dissolved. They had a pretty cool squad at the time, with a number of Brazilian players, some of you may remember former Ajax forward Wamberto, I think he started his career in Europe at Seraing.
Anyway, through all sorts of shady constructions and buying up amateur clubs they have clawed their way back up the Belgian football pyramid, last season they still played in the top amateur division (which they didn't win) however a few pro clubs got into financial problems and got relegated, and as a result Seraing were awarded promotion to the 2nd division.
They also have a collaboration going with L1 club FC Metz and they received a number of players on loan which really helped them compete this year. French/Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze especially had a brilliant season, I think he scored 24 goals in 25 games or something like that.
I'm not sure if they will be able to survive next season though, it's going to be really though, apart from being a Metz affiliate they don't have a lot of assets.
Btw with Union and Seraing being promoted, the four major city clubs now each have an in-town rival next season.
Bruges: Club Brugge -> Cercle Brugge
Brussels: Anderlecht -> Union SG
Antwerp: FC Antwerp -> Beerschot
Liege: Standard -> RFC Seraing
Vardar, who are actually the defending champions of Macedonia and the first club from that country to play in a Euro group stage were relegated for the first time in their history. They were pretty much the dominant club there and the one club from Macedonia who were mainstays in the Yugo days (11th in the all-time Yugo table). Reading more into it the blame goes to having no ownership/sponsors and they are in massive debts. There are actually rumors they will merge with the newly promoted FK Skopje so to defacto stay in the league 
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
- Aug 8, 2006
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Not more broke than those Argentina teams. I think if they can offer around 10 he's a goner.
Savi
Registered User
Another crazy round tonight, with Besiktas choking again. Galatasaray did their job with a 4-1 away win at Denizlispor. Besiktas surprisingly lost at home 2-1 against a team called Fatih Karagumruk, at 1-1 Fatih had a man sent off but they still managed to score the GWG. With that loss, Fenerbahce had a chance to grab 1st place but they as well lost at home, 2-1 against Sivasspor.
Besiktas and Galatasaray are now tied at 81 points with Besiktas holding the H2H tiebreaker
Fenerbahce are still on 79 points
Galatasaray play their final game at home against #15 Yeni Malatyaspor
Besiktas will play away at #10 Goztepe
Fenerbahce are also away at #17 Kayserispor (who need a result to avoid relegation)
Vardar, who are actually the defending champions of Macedonia and the first club from that country to play in a Euro group stage were relegated for the first time in their history. They were pretty much the dominant club there and the one club from Macedonia who were mainstays in the Yugo days (11th in the all-time Yugo table). Reading more into it the blame goes to having no ownership/sponsors and they are in massive debts. There are actually rumors they will merge with the newly promoted FK Skopje so to defacto stay in the league
Their biggest financial backer went away, he was also the guy who made Vardar into a two-time handball European Champion. One of the best stories in pro sports for me lately.
Savi
Registered User
Not really surprising news but Salzburg won their 8th straight Austrian title tonight.
Patson Daka scored both goals in their win against (can't remember against which team lol) he was already Austrian League MVP last year and is up to 26 goals already this season, surely he'll finally move to a big club this summer
Patson Daka scored both goals in their win against (can't remember against which team lol) he was already Austrian League MVP last year and is up to 26 goals already this season, surely he'll finally move to a big club this summer
Savi
Registered User
Another crazy round tonight, with Besiktas choking again. Galatasaray did their job with a 4-1 away win at Denizlispor. Besiktas surprisingly lost at home 2-1 against a team called Fatih Karagumruk, at 1-1 Fatih had a man sent off but they still managed to score the GWG. With that loss, Fenerbahce had a chance to grab 1st place but they as well lost at home, 2-1 against Sivasspor.
Besiktas and Galatasaray are now tied at 81 points with Besiktas holding the H2H tiebreaker
Fenerbahce are still on 79 points
Galatasaray play their final game at home against #15 Yeni Malatyaspor
Besiktas will play away at #10 Goztepe
Fenerbahce are also away at #17 Kayserispor (who need a result to avoid relegation)
So after all the drama of the previous matchdays, all three teams won their final game so Besiktas are champions, four years after their last title.
Also, in Portugal Benfica ended Sporting's undefeated season with a spectacular 4-3 win.
I just finished watching Besiktas and Goztepe...high drama and a title for our Canadians Hutchinson and Larin.. Besiktas roster was down to bare bones...they really were running on fumes but got it over the line.
Power Man
Grrrr
What a comeback season for Ghezzal, both in club and with the NT
Power Man
Grrrr
Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
- Aug 8, 2006
- 45,300
- 9,465
