SP Champions league - all seasons

[remedy73]

As far as I can remember all Dutch teams ever participated always qualified for QF's. Is that right Gregoric?
So with 3 Dutch teams this season I expect them all to reach the next round! Come on, guys!!

[gregoric]

As far as I can remember all Dutch teams ever participated always qualified for QF's. Is that right Gregoric?
So with 3 Dutch teams this season I expect them all to reach the next round! Come on, guys!!

Almost
I found some cases where Dutch teams finished in the Group stage: Fresh (Season 2 - 3rd place), tvaltnietmee (S10/4.) and FC Valid (S3/3., S9/4.)
But I think this is the season with highest Dutch participation, two of them are seeded in first pot, so I would expect at least these to qualify. It might depend on the draw, because there are two very ambitious teams in POT4

[rohalt]

It's a pity, i can not participate!
Good luck to all managers ... and especially for Gregoric.

[gregoric]

Group stage draw has been published on the top post of this topic - you can also see the game schedule for the group stage. So tomorrow morning, you can start setting up your games. Please try to send invites as soon as possible, so teams are not blocking the free slots for next weekend.

Here is a preview of the group stage.

GROUP A: U.C.SAMPDORIA (BUL), MSK_Profirol (SVK), St. Wange (BEL), LT Athletic (LIT)
U.C.SAMPDORIA is a clear favorite against the three new joiners of SPCL. I don't expect a big drama in the fight for the top position in this group, however the fight for second place can be very interesting. I expect MSK_Profirol to go through to the Quarterfinals, but the other two teams are not without chances.

GROUP B: Lucky Spike FC (NED), SAMPDORIA (BUL), Red Bull FC (CZE), FC Rovinka (SVK)
This seems to be much more dramatic group. The fight for the first place will have no clear favorite - Lucky Spike FC has slightly better chances than SAMPDORIA, but Bulgarian team has a good chance for a revenge - these two teams were fighting for the promotion to A division in last SP season. At the end, Dutch team took the 2nd place just two points ahead of SAMPDORIA. Red Bull FC has also solid chances to fight for the Top 8 - they won last season's C division with 83 points. So here I can say, the draw was not very lucky for me - I'll try to do my best to get FC Rovinka to Quarterfinals, but it doesn't look very promising

GROUP C: El Pandos Brutos (NED), BALKI (SVK), FC Kaima Brakonieriai (LIT), FCB Eruveo (CZE)
In their first appearance, El Pandos Brutos should make it through - but the fight for the first place will not be easy. BALKI was the most positive surprise of last SPCL season - as a team seeded from the lowest pot (they also went through qualification round), Slovak team managed to get 4th place. The other two teams can also surprise - Lithuanian team was just promoted to B division (they'll play the same division as BALKI) and FCB Eruveo stayed just one point behind the second place in last season's C division.

GROUP D: The Last Mohycan (SVK), Viastore (CZE), SC Rotterdam (NED), Noldor (SWE)
Probably the most difficult group of this season. I think all four teams have chance to get through to the Quarterfinals. I expect that The Last Mohycan will get the first place, but it will be a difficult fight for them for sure. This is the only group with two teams from A division, in addition to that we have a fresh winner of C - SC Rotterdam, and another very perspective generation of Noldor. Despite they only played E division last season, the team is already now packed with a huge power. This season it might not be sufficient to get a medal, but I wouldn't underestimate them. Three teams already played past SPCL seasons and as I wrote last week, Slovak and Swedish teams are the only teams who won two trophies (in a row) - Noldor won 2nd and 3rd season, while The Last Mohycan was on top of SPCL season 5 & 6.

[Hippopotamus]

Gregoric, please - could you make one another draw of groups? This is really very very bad joke
(it´s quite stupid when 2 teams from A div. end in the group already )

[raoulio]

5 A teams and 4 groups, so there will always be 2 A teams in one group.

[gregoric]

Gregoric, please - could you make one another draw of groups? This is really very very bad joke
(it´s quite stupid when 2 teams from A div. end in the group already )

Well, you wanted to play, so here you are I think it's a very interesting group for you - so you can test your team quite well in this season

[gregoric]

5 A teams and 4 groups, so there will always be 2 A teams in one group.

I think Hippo meant here that 2 teams will end their journey in Group stage

[mr charlie]

I'm supporting the dutch/belgium team in every pot, well devided

[gregoric]

IMPORTANT CHANGE:
Unfortunately, I received a last minute decline from one of the subscribed teams - St. Wange decided not to play.

In order to avoid having one group with just 3 participants, I got an agreement with rogiboys that he'll replace St. Wange in Group A. With this we also keep Belgian flag in this season (@rohalt, thanks a lot for your flexibility).

I will be off for next 2-3 days, so I'll update the full results of round 1 around Tuesday/Wednesday

[gregoric]

Round 1 completed - here are some highlights.

Two biggest favorites of this season started the journey with victories - and they both set the standards high: U.C. SAMPDORIA won 4:3 against MSK_Profirol (group A) while The Last Mohycan won 1:0 against Noldor (D) - both winners played 148. In Group A, we had a last minute change, rogiboys quickly setup a game against LT Athletic and they started with a victory 1:0 (136 - 135).
Group B started with two draws - and all four teams played over 140! I am personally quite happy with my start - I parked a bus at the pitch of Lucky Spike FC. Dutch team wasn't really lucky this time - the game ended with a 0:0 draw (home side played 144, 3pts more than my team). The other game between SAMPDORIA and Red Bull FC finished 2:2 - well deserved, as both teams played 141. As expected, this will be a very hard group for me, all teams seem to have good chance to fight for QF.
In Group C, El Pandos Brutos confirmed expectation and they won 2:1 against BALKI. In the other game, FCB Eruveo took a bit surprising win away at FC Kaima. The performances in this group were lowest (max 137 in first round).
Group D will be interesting as well. The lowest seeded team in this tournament - Noldor - played the best away perforamnce of the round (142). It wasn't enough this time, but I believe they have a very good chance to qualify to play-offs. In the second game, Viastore won against SC Rotterdam 3:2 136 - 132), but they will need to improve - Czech team plays next at Noldor's stadium.

First round also brought a record in attendance. It was a long time waiting for improving previous record (15 397 fans / season 4). Game between SAMPDORIA and Red Bull FC had 15 916 attendees.

[gregoric]

Round 2 highlights

Group A continues according to expectations - U.C.SAMPDORIA are on top of the table after winning their second game. The fight for 2nd place looks now slightly better for MSK_Profirol. Slovak team took a 1:0 victory against rogiboys on Sunday - both teams shown very good performances (145 - 142).

Group B started with two draws, but second round brought first victories for favorites. Lucky Spike FC won away at Red Bull FC 2:1 after playing the best away performance this season (147), while SAMPDORIA won 1:0 away at FC Rovinka. My team was fighting hard, the difference in line ratings was just 1 point. In overall, this is still the top performing group - the lowest performance in 2 rounds is still 141, so the results are difficult to predict.

We didn't see any surprises in Group C either - BALKI won their home game against FC Kaima Brakonieriai (2:1) and El Pandos Brutos won away at FCB Eruveo 3:2. Looking at performances, Dutch team is ahead, but remaining trio can still fight for 2nd place.

So far the highest win goes to The Last Mohycan - they destroyed SC Rotterdam 4:1. Dutch team didn't send their top 11 on pitch and played only 115 (30 points lower than their oppoonent). Viastore secured their second position by taking a point from stadium of Noldor in a 2:2 draw game. Czech team was leading 2:0 after the second half, but homeside's striker Sulejmani saved at least a draw with two goals scored in the second half.

[gregoric]

Round 3 summary

Group A - the biggest favorite continues their victorious journey, U.C.SAMPDORIA won against rogiboys and they're getting very close to the Quarterfinals. The remaining 3 teams are all equal with 3 points, so 6 points behind the leader. And it's really difficult to predict who will take the second place here (with the assumption that Bulgarian team will not lose the first place). This will probably stay open till the very end of the group.

Group B - Lucky Spike FC won 4:3 at SAMPDORIA in another good quality game (146 vs 142). It was a well deserved win for the Dutch team who's now taking the lead in the group with 7 points. They are 3 points ahead of SAMPDORIA and my team. FC Rovinka surprisingly won at Red Bull FC 2:1. Friday's game brought lowest performances of both sides, which was affected by lower stamina of key players and red cards on both sides. So, I am still staying in fight for play-offs, but that's also the case of Red Bull FC - as they're still just 3 points behind the 2nd place.

The other Dutch team is dominating group C - El Pandos Brutos won 3rd time in a row. With the total score 9:5 they're the most offensive team of this season so far. And their performance is increasing with every game, last time they reached 145. Their opponent FC Kaima Brakonieriai is going exactly opposite, lowering their performance game by game. Lithuanian team holds the last position without a single point and although they still have theoretical chance to qualify, it doesn't seem to be realistic at all. So we will most likely see BALKI and FCB Eruveo fighting for the play-off ticket. In the middle of the group stage, they're totally equal - both teams have 4 points and score 3:3. Slovak team seems to be in a bit worse position, as they only played 0:0 at home, so next weekend they need to improve in the away game against their biggest opponent.

Group D is very similar to previous one. We have one dominating team with 9 points, two teams with 4 and one without a real chance for a QF. So - The Last Mohycan is on top of the group after beating Viastore 2:1. It was another high performance of the homeside - 147. Noldor took their first victory this season (4:2 against SC Rotterdam) and they're now chasing Viastore. As I wrote, both team got 4 points so far, Viastore has the advantage of home game against Noldor - this will come in the last round of the Group stage. The interesting fact of group D is a very high attendance - both games of last round had almost 12 thousand attendees, the average in this group is over 10.000 at the moment!

[Hippopotamus]

It´s in! First Noldor's SPCL victory after 2 years and 8 months (or ca. 15,5 SP seasons) - the last was on 9th of July 2015 in the end of 64th season in the semifinal battle of 4th SPCL season against AC Draha Prague. Nice, really nice

[Milko]

It´s in! First Noldor's SPCL victory after 2 years and 8 months (or ca. 15,5 SP seasons) - the last was on 9th of July 2015 in the end of 64th season in the semifinal battle of 4th SPCL season against AC Draha Prague. Nice, really nice

...And maybe the last victory in this group