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Five strange stories from the end of the European season

Five strange stories from the end of the European season

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Most of Europe’s top leagues are all but finished…but there are a few hidden aspects to the 2023/24 season which haven’t gone as you might expect. In fact, there are a handful of leagues, cups and individual clubs which faced decidedly strange situations at the end of their respective campaigns.

By Karl Matchett

The Belgian Pro League: Not as even as it could be

Over to the Pro League first then, a 16-team top flight in Belgium where each team plays each other twice. Then the league splits, similar to the Scottish Premiership but rather than into two, it splits into three. And rather than everyone still playing the same number of games, they…don’t.

Basically, the top six go into the Championship round, where they play another ten games (twice against each opponent) to determine the title-winner and European spots, of which they get four guaranteed in that section. Now, it gets tricky from this point, with the fifth placed finishers goes into a qualifier, and the sixth place finishers go nowhere at all. So no Europe for them. Still with us?

Back to the original league table, teams in 7th to 12th play another mini league and whoever tops that plays the playoff against fifth from the Championship group. Got it?

We’re not done yet! The original league’s bottom four, 13th to 16th, go into the relegation playoff round. They play an additional six games, therefore playing a minimum of two fewer matches than all their divisional rivals across the calendar year. Oh, except, one of them plays more games, because they have a relegation playoff against a second-tier team still to play!

Serie A sides finishing late…very late

Over to Italy, it’s at least all normal in terms of how many matches they’ll play – but not when.

Heading into the final week of the season, there were still teams on 36 and 37 fixtures completed. Bologna will wrap up their campaign by playing both Monday and Friday night, while others will be in the main final day of Sunday 26 May. Fiorentina are still on 36 games played, and they face Cagliari on Thursday night but won’t end the week on 38 – nor will Europa League finalists Atalanta.

In fact, both teams will only complete their season with a game played on 2 June: a full week after everybody else and indeed after the official elite end date of 2023/24, which comes with the Champions League Final on 1 June.

Back in mid-March when the fixture was initially scheduled, Fiorentina director Joe Barone collapsed ahead of the game and the match was postponed. Sadly, he later died. There have since been several midweek gaps when theoretically the rearranged encounter could take place – but as both teams kept winning in Europe, those options disappeared.

As Atalanta are through to the Europa League Final and Fiorentina are in the Conference League Final, not a single free space for either club arose at the same time for nearly three months – so instead they’ll have to wait until way beyond everybody else to conclude their seasons.

Six criteria levels to define relegation!?

Imagine the scenario: You’re in the bottom two, two go down, third-bottom is a relegation playoff. You trail by three points and have a goal difference seven worse, but your rivals above you lose their last game 2-0. You’re winning 4-0…and then, in the 90th minute, score the fifth. Level on points, level on goal difference, and you’ve scored more goals.

But you’re still relegated.

That’s the situation encountered by Lorient in Ligue 1 this year and the reason isn’t even their head-to-head record, either.

Lorient and Metz both took three points in head-to-head games, both had the same goal difference in games against each other and the same goals scored in those matches too. But they are relegated because while they won 2-1 on the road in February, they lost the home encounter 3-2 in November.

In France, the sixth deciding factor on separating teams is away goals scored in head-to-head matches, then it’s goals scored across the whole season. So Lorient are down, Metz have one final chance to save themselves…as a result of an 83rd-minute penalty scored six months ago!

The second-tier team in Europe…again!

OK, here’s a great one. You may know the name Vaduz. You may even know it’s the capital city of Liechtenstein. But as there’s no national division in that country, teams from there play in the Swiss league system.

Vaduz are…not great. They are in the second tier and this year finished third, but a massive 27 points behind second, which is the promotion playoff spot.

And yet they’ll play in Europe, again. Why? Because while there’s no Liechtenstein league system, there is a Liechtenstein Cup. And guess what? It carries a Europa Conference League qualifying place for winning it, basically guaranteeing Vaduz a place every year. They’ve failed to win it only seven times since 1984 and have tallied 50 cup wins overall, a world record!

Bayer Leverkusen? Forget about them

And finally, if you’ve been admiring Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season, you can stop now. 28 wins in 34 games and zero defeats is lovely, sure. 90 points impressive, definitely. But it’s not the best.

Step forward Welsh outfit The New Saints: 32 played, 30 won, zero defeats, 92 points. Europe’s finest, surely!

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game with xG, deep stats, and players ratings, on FotMob this season. Download the free app here.

Five strange stories from the end of the European season

Most of Europe’s top leagues are all but finished…but there are a few hidden aspects to the 2023/24 season which haven’t gone as you might expect. In fact, there are a handful of leagues, cups and individual clubs which faced decidedly strange situations at the end of their respective campaigns.

By Karl Matchett

The Belgian Pro League: Not as even as it could be

Over to the Pro League first then, a 16-team top flight in Belgium where each team plays each other twice. Then the league splits, similar to the Scottish Premiership but rather than into two, it splits into three. And rather than everyone still playing the same number of games, they…don’t.

Basically, the top six go into the Championship round, where they play another ten games (twice against each opponent) to determine the title-winner and European spots, of which they get four guaranteed in that section. Now, it gets tricky from this point, with the fifth placed finishers goes into a qualifier, and the sixth place finishers go nowhere at all. So no Europe for them. Still with us?

Back to the original league table, teams in 7th to 12th play another mini league and whoever tops that plays the playoff against fifth from the Championship group. Got it?

We’re not done yet! The original league’s bottom four, 13th to 16th, go into the relegation playoff round. They play an additional six games, therefore playing a minimum of two fewer matches than all their divisional rivals across the calendar year. Oh, except, one of them plays more games, because they have a relegation playoff against a second-tier team still to play!

Serie A sides finishing late…very late

Over to Italy, it’s at least all normal in terms of how many matches they’ll play – but not when.

Heading into the final week of the season, there were still teams on 36 and 37 fixtures completed. Bologna will wrap up their campaign by playing both Monday and Friday night, while others will be in the main final day of Sunday 26 May. Fiorentina are still on 36 games played, and they face Cagliari on Thursday night but won’t end the week on 38 – nor will Europa League finalists Atalanta.

In fact, both teams will only complete their season with a game played on 2 June: a full week after everybody else and indeed after the official elite end date of 2023/24, which comes with the Champions League Final on 1 June.

Back in mid-March when the fixture was initially scheduled, Fiorentina director Joe Barone collapsed ahead of the game and the match was postponed. Sadly, he later died. There have since been several midweek gaps when theoretically the rearranged encounter could take place – but as both teams kept winning in Europe, those options disappeared.

As Atalanta are through to the Europa League Final and Fiorentina are in the Conference League Final, not a single free space for either club arose at the same time for nearly three months – so instead they’ll have to wait until way beyond everybody else to conclude their seasons.

Six criteria levels to define relegation!?

Imagine the scenario: You’re in the bottom two, two go down, third-bottom is a relegation playoff. You trail by three points and have a goal difference seven worse, but your rivals above you lose their last game 2-0. You’re winning 4-0…and then, in the 90th minute, score the fifth. Level on points, level on goal difference, and you’ve scored more goals.

But you’re still relegated.

That’s the situation encountered by Lorient in Ligue 1 this year and the reason isn’t even their head-to-head record, either.

Lorient and Metz both took three points in head-to-head games, both had the same goal difference in games against each other and the same goals scored in those matches too. But they are relegated because while they won 2-1 on the road in February, they lost the home encounter 3-2 in November.

In France, the sixth deciding factor on separating teams is away goals scored in head-to-head matches, then it’s goals scored across the whole season. So Lorient are down, Metz have one final chance to save themselves…as a result of an 83rd-minute penalty scored six months ago!

The second-tier team in Europe…again!

OK, here’s a great one. You may know the name Vaduz. You may even know it’s the capital city of Liechtenstein. But as there’s no national division in that country, teams from there play in the Swiss league system.

Vaduz are…not great. They are in the second tier and this year finished third, but a massive 27 points behind second, which is the promotion playoff spot.

And yet they’ll play in Europe, again. Why? Because while there’s no Liechtenstein league system, there is a Liechtenstein Cup. And guess what? It carries a Europa Conference League qualifying place for winning it, basically guaranteeing Vaduz a place every year. They’ve failed to win it only seven times since 1984 and have tallied 50 cup wins overall, a world record!

Bayer Leverkusen? Forget about them

And finally, if you’ve been admiring Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season, you can stop now. 28 wins in 34 games and zero defeats is lovely, sure. 90 points impressive, definitely. But it’s not the best.

Step forward Welsh outfit The New Saints: 32 played, 30 won, zero defeats, 92 points. Europe’s finest, surely!

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game with xG, deep stats, and players ratings, on FotMob this season. Download the free app here.