I have had a few requests from friends who are just getting into football curious about how the premier league and the champions league work. So here goes:
Premier league:
The overall message is - whoever has the most points at the end of the season, wins the season. There are 20 teams in the premier league, and each team plays every other team twice - home and away. In other words, each team plays 38 games in a season. The way the points are tallied are as follows - 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and no points for a loss. So, yes, it is possible that the team who wins the premier league loses multiple games in a season. In fact, that is very often the case.
The top four teams in the league enter into the following year's Champions league competition (explained later), the next couple of teams play in the UEFA league (a knockout format) and the bottom three teams (18th, 19th and 20th) get relegated into the lower division. Similarly, three teams from the lower division, called the N-power championship, are promoted to the Premier league for the following season. Here is an example of what this year's table looks like -
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5901
If you noticed, this season ended with the top two teams (Manchester united and Manchester City) on the same # of points. In a situation like this, the team with the better goal difference (GD) wins the premier league. Goal difference is simply = Goals scored - Goals conceded. Since City had a far superior goal difference, they won the Premier league. In the case that the GD is also the same, the team that has scored more goals wins the premier league (as was the case back in 1989 - although it was not called the "English Premier League" back then. In researching this article, I learned that in case the teams cannot be separated at goals scored, a playoff is provisioned between the two teams at a neutral venue. To my knowledge, this has never occurred to date.
The Champions League
The top three teams fromm the EPL in a season play in the champions League the FOLLOWING season. Let me embellish - if you click on the above table, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will be playing in the Champions League in the 2012-2013 season. Tottenham Hotspurs (team in 4th) is also technically qualified for the champions league, BUT there's a caveat here. Chelsea FC (in 6th place) are playing the Champions League final on Saturday (for a preview of the game, please visit my podcast site - http://unitedandliverpoolfans.podbean.com) and if they were to win, they would bump Spurs out of that final Champions League spot.
Now, let's talk about how the Champions League actually works. For simplicity, we will skip the qualifying stages. The top 3 or 4 teams from various European Clubs (from England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Turkey, Germany, etc.) are entered into a group format. Each team plays every other team home and away, and yet again, the two teams with the most points enter the knockout stages. There are 3 knockout stages (2nd round, quarter final, semi-final) and then a final. Now here's the confusing bit - how are the knockout stages decided. Instead of a dry explanation, I'm going to use an example:
There are two teams - Manchester United and Barcelona and they are playing in the quarter final of the champions league. The first game is at home at United. United wins the game 2-0. The game at Barcelona ends with Barca winning 2-1. In this situation, both teams have the one win each. But, United's goal difference (+1) is better than Barcelona's (0), and therefore United goes through.
But, what if the following situation presents itself - United wins 1-0 at home and Barca wins 2-1 at home. Now, both teams have one win, both teams have the same goal differential (0) and both teams have scored the same # of goals (2). In this situation, the team to have scored more AWAY goals, wins the tie. Barcelona scores 0 goals away from home, while United has scored 1 goal away from home. Therefore, United goes through to the next found.
Just some practice problems for you to work out - answers at the bottom:
1. United wins 6-0 at home Barcelona wins 5-0 at home. Who goes through?
2. United ties 1-1 at home, Barca wins 2-1 at home.
3. United draws 1-1 at home, Barca draws 2-2 at home.
4. United wins 2-1 at home, Barca wins 3-2 at home.
1. United - better GD.
2. Barca - they have won more games (1) than United (0).
3. United - More away goals.
4. United - more goals scored away from home.
If teams cannot be separated on the away goals rule, they play extra time (2x15 min halves) and a penalty shootout after that.
Please let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the Champions league final!
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Premier league:
The overall message is - whoever has the most points at the end of the season, wins the season. There are 20 teams in the premier league, and each team plays every other team twice - home and away. In other words, each team plays 38 games in a season. The way the points are tallied are as follows - 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and no points for a loss. So, yes, it is possible that the team who wins the premier league loses multiple games in a season. In fact, that is very often the case.
The top four teams in the league enter into the following year's Champions league competition (explained later), the next couple of teams play in the UEFA league (a knockout format) and the bottom three teams (18th, 19th and 20th) get relegated into the lower division. Similarly, three teams from the lower division, called the N-power championship, are promoted to the Premier league for the following season. Here is an example of what this year's table looks like -
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5901
If you noticed, this season ended with the top two teams (Manchester united and Manchester City) on the same # of points. In a situation like this, the team with the better goal difference (GD) wins the premier league. Goal difference is simply = Goals scored - Goals conceded. Since City had a far superior goal difference, they won the Premier league. In the case that the GD is also the same, the team that has scored more goals wins the premier league (as was the case back in 1989 - although it was not called the "English Premier League" back then. In researching this article, I learned that in case the teams cannot be separated at goals scored, a playoff is provisioned between the two teams at a neutral venue. To my knowledge, this has never occurred to date.
The Champions League
The top three teams fromm the EPL in a season play in the champions League the FOLLOWING season. Let me embellish - if you click on the above table, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will be playing in the Champions League in the 2012-2013 season. Tottenham Hotspurs (team in 4th) is also technically qualified for the champions league, BUT there's a caveat here. Chelsea FC (in 6th place) are playing the Champions League final on Saturday (for a preview of the game, please visit my podcast site - http://unitedandliverpoolfans.podbean.com) and if they were to win, they would bump Spurs out of that final Champions League spot.
Now, let's talk about how the Champions League actually works. For simplicity, we will skip the qualifying stages. The top 3 or 4 teams from various European Clubs (from England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Turkey, Germany, etc.) are entered into a group format. Each team plays every other team home and away, and yet again, the two teams with the most points enter the knockout stages. There are 3 knockout stages (2nd round, quarter final, semi-final) and then a final. Now here's the confusing bit - how are the knockout stages decided. Instead of a dry explanation, I'm going to use an example:
There are two teams - Manchester United and Barcelona and they are playing in the quarter final of the champions league. The first game is at home at United. United wins the game 2-0. The game at Barcelona ends with Barca winning 2-1. In this situation, both teams have the one win each. But, United's goal difference (+1) is better than Barcelona's (0), and therefore United goes through.
But, what if the following situation presents itself - United wins 1-0 at home and Barca wins 2-1 at home. Now, both teams have one win, both teams have the same goal differential (0) and both teams have scored the same # of goals (2). In this situation, the team to have scored more AWAY goals, wins the tie. Barcelona scores 0 goals away from home, while United has scored 1 goal away from home. Therefore, United goes through to the next found.
Just some practice problems for you to work out - answers at the bottom:
1. United wins 6-0 at home Barcelona wins 5-0 at home. Who goes through?
2. United ties 1-1 at home, Barca wins 2-1 at home.
3. United draws 1-1 at home, Barca draws 2-2 at home.
4. United wins 2-1 at home, Barca wins 3-2 at home.
1. United - better GD.
2. Barca - they have won more games (1) than United (0).
3. United - More away goals.
4. United - more goals scored away from home.
If teams cannot be separated on the away goals rule, they play extra time (2x15 min halves) and a penalty shootout after that.
Please let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the Champions league final!
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