Welcome, you are dear blog reader, to the second part of this blog's big, broad, massive and hard coverage of the 2022-23 football season covering, this time around, some non-English examples of The People's Game. Because, apparently, it is quite popular abroad, too.
Treble-winners Glasgow Celtic clinched the Scottish Premiership title on 7 May winning at Heart of Midlothian and will enter the Champions League at the group stage, with runners-up and Old Firm rivals Glasgow Rangers entering at the third qualifying round stage. Although whether Ange Postecoglou will still be in charge at Parkhead by then or if he will have been sentenced to a lengthy stretch at the Stottingham Hotshots Stadium is a question probably best left for another day. Third-placed Aberdeen and Hearts, who finished fourth, qualified for Europe as did fifth-placed Hibernian. Celtic's win in the Scottish Cup Final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 3 June meant that Aberdeen will enter the Europa League at the play-off round, whilst the Edinburgh pair of Hearts and Hibs are both in the Europa Conference League at the third and second qualifying rounds, respectively. Dundee United - who finished the 2021-22 season in fourth and, themselves, qualified for European football - had a truly terrible year at Tannadice and were relegated to the Scottish Championship when they lost three-two to Motherwell on the final day of the regular season. United were eliminated from the Conference League by AZ Alkmaar after a truly embarrassing seven-nil defeat in the Netherlands, equaling the record defeat for a Scottish club in European competitions. They started the league season equally poorly and were beaten nine-nil at home by Celtic on 28 August. That's nine-nil. At home. Ouch. Jack Ross, formerly of The Mackem Filth, was appointed as United's manager before the season as a replacement for the popular Tam Courts who had led The Terrors into Europe before leaving to manage Honved. Ross was extremel sacked after a mere five games, culminating in the surrender-before-kick-off against Celtic. Nine-nil, remember. He was succeeded by Liam Fox, initially on an interim basis. Fox was in charge until February where, after a horrorshow against fellow relegation rivals Ross County, United lost four-nil and he, too, got the boot. The club then turned to Jim Goodwin, who had himself been relieved from his role at Aberdeen in February, appointing him until the end of the season. Ross County faced Championship side Partick Thistle in the two-legged play-off final. Losing two-nil in the first game, County were seconds from relegation before an injury time equaliser by George Harmon took the tie to penalties, with County eventually winning five-four to retain their top flight status.
Dundee were promoted to the Scottish Premiership as champions after beating title rivals Queen's Park five-three on the final day of the season and will replace fierce Granite City rivals Dundee United in the Premiership. Ayr United and Queen's Park lost out in the play-off semi-finals. Bottom club Cove Rangers were relegated to Scottish League One after losing to Greenock Morton on the last day of the regular season, while ninth-placed Hamilton Academicals went down on 20 May, losing their play-off final to Airdrieonians on penalties. Scottish League One Champions Dunfermline Athletic clinched automatic promotion to the Championship on 15 April, thrashing Queen Of The South five-nil. Bottom of the table Peterhead were relegated to Scottish League Two after losing at Kelty Hearts on 29 April, whilst ninth-placed Clyde were relegated on 19 May after a five-two aggregate defeat by Annan in the play-off final. Champions of Scottish League Two were Stirling Albion, who clinched the title on 22 April after beating Annan and were automatically promoted to League One. Albion Rovers were relegated on 20 May, losing to Lowland League winners The Spartans - who will replace them in League Two next season - in the pyramid play-off-final. Former league regulars Brechin City won The Highland League by two points from Buckie Thistle.
As usual, there was lots of dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions as The New Saints of Oswestry & Llansantffraid won the Cymru Premier for the fifteenth time and the eleventh occasion in the last fourteen seasons. Seriously, lads, it's all getting a bit boring now - you know, like Red Bull's dominance in F1. Runners-up Connah's Quay Nomads and third placed Penybont will play in the the Europa Conference League's first qualifying round whilst Cardiff Metropolitan University, Bala Town, Newtown and Haverfordwest County all reached the Conference League play-offs with Haverfordwest beating Newtown on penalties in the final meaning they, too, will compete in the Conference League qualifiers. Flint Town United and Airbus UK Broughton were relegated to Cymru North and Cymru South respectively. Colywn Bay and Barry Town will replace them in next season's Premier League.
Northern Ireland's NIFL Premiership was won by Larne, clinching their first ever league title on 14 April 2023 with a two-nil win over Crusaders. Their prize was a place in the Champions League first qualifying round. The runners-up (last year's champions, Linfield), the Irish Cup winners (Crusaders) and the play-off winners (Glentoran, who beat Cliftonville) will enter the Europa Conference League first qualifying round. Bottom side Portadown were relegated to the NIFL Championship (replaced by promoted Loughgall), but Dungannon Swifts retained their place in the top flight, winning a play-off against the Championship's third-placed team, Annagh United. Warrenpoint Town, who finished runners-up in the Championship were denied an NIFL Premiership license on 27 April 2023 and were unsuccessful in their appeal against this right shite state of affairs.
The League Of Ireland Premier Division was won by Shamrock Rovers who will play in the Champions League first qualifying round. Derry City (runners-up and FAI Cup winners), Dundalk and St Patrick's Athletic qualified for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round. University College Dublin were relegated to the League Of Ireland First Divison, replaced by Galway United.
Bayern München dramatically snatched the Bundesliga title away from Borussia Dortmund after beating FC Köln two-one whilst their title rivals drew at home to Mainz on final day of season. Bayern announced immediately after their title triumph that they had fired CEO Mary Shelley's Oliver Kahn and Sporting Director Hasan Salihamidzic. Meanwhile, RB Leipzig and Union Berlin finished third and fourth respectively and will also compete in the Champions League next season. SC Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen will play in the Europa League group stages and Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the Europa Conference League play-off round with VfL Wolfsburg, Mainz and Borussia Mönchengladbach all missing out. Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 were relegated, while VfB Stuttgart will go into the relegation play-off against Hamburger SV on 5 June. FC Heidenheim 1846 and SV Darmstadt won promotion from the second tier of German football.
Eredivisie champions Feyenoord Rotterdam and runners-up PSV Eindhoven will both be playing Champions League football next season - as usual - whilst Ajax Amsterdamn finished third and take a place in the Europa League. To complete a less-than-satisfactory year for Ajax, they also lost to PSV in the Dutch Cup Final. AZ Alkmaar were fourth and qualified for Europa Conference League third qualifying round (unless, of course, they get very banned by UEFA after some of their naughtier fans gave West Hamsters United some serious grief in the same competition earlier this year). FC Twente, Sparta Rotterdam, Utrecht and SC Heerenveen will all compete in a forthcoming play-off competition for The Netherlands final European place in the Conference League. Tragically this blogger's personal favourite Dutchies, Go Ahead Eagles, finished eleventh and missed out on potential European glory. Cambuur were relegated to Eerste Divisie, as were Gronigan - normally a side who finish comfortably mid-table who had, in the club's own words their 'Worst! Season! Ever!' Groningen finished bottom, winning only four times in thirty four matches and were relegated to the Eerste Divisie for the third time. Before the start of the season, the German Frank Wormuth was appointed coach. However, he was sacked in November, after which Wormuth labelled the working conditions 'mentally unsafe.' Under his successor, Dennis van der Ree, Groningen won only once in twenty one games and were eliminated from the KNVB Cup at home by amateur club SV Spakenburg. During the season, Gronigan's director of football, Mark-Jan Fledderus, was sacked and two board members stepped down amid accusations of fraud. CEO Woulter Gudde concluded that the squad was 'unfit, unbalanced and lacked quality and personality.' Heracles Almelo and PEC Zwolle were promoted to the Eredivisie.
The Serie A title returned to Campania with Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli winning their first championship since 1990. On 4 May, Napoli secured their third title with five matches to spare, following a draw at Udinese. They will be joined in the Champions League group stages by Lazio, Internazionale and AC Milan. Atalanta and Roma finished fifth and sixth resepctively and will play in the Europa League whilst The Shitty Hunchbacks were seventh and qualified for the Conference League play-off round. In January, Juventus had been deducted fifteen points as punishment for alleged capital gain violations. In April, the decision was overturned and Juve were given those points back. However, following a new investigation, Juventus were docked ten points in May. Torino and Fiorentina ended the season outside of the European places. Sampdoria and Cremonese both suffered relegation to Serie B whilst the third relegation place went to the final weekend of the season with Hellas Verona and Spezia both tied on thirty one points. The two will play-off on 11 June to decide who goes down. Frosinone and Genoa gained promotion from Serie B whilst the third promoted side will be settled by the play-offs involving such teams as Bari, Parma, Cagliari and Fußball Club Südtirol. Inter beat Fiorentina in the final of the Coppa Italia.
Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain successfully retained the Ligue Un title - a record-breaking eleventh - following a draw with Strasbourg on the penultimate match day although their party was somewhat spoiled on the final day of the season when, two-nil up to Clermont Foot they conspired to concede three late goals. The game was played in a poisonous atmosphere inside the Parc des Princes due to the pre-match announcement that Lionel Messi would be leaving the club with immediate effect. Runners-up Lens and third placed Olympique Marseille join PSG in the Champions League whilst fourth placed Lille and Coupe De France winners Toulouse will play in the Europe League. The qualification place for the Europa Conference League went to the final day of the season on 3 June with Stade Rennais and AS Monaco level on points and Lyon in with a mathematical chance of European football but dependent on the results of others. Rennais two-one victory at Brest secured the return of European football to Brittany. At the bottom, Angers, Ajaccio, Troyes and Auxerre were all relegated to Ligue Deux, replaced by Le Havre and Metz. Nantes narrowly avoided relegation thanks to a final day win against Angers whilst Auxerre were losing at home to Lens. Only two clubs were promoted from the second tier as the number of clubs in Ligue Un has been reduced from twenty to eighteen. Bordeaux, Bastia, Caen and Saint-Étienne were amongst those to miss out on promotion (Saint-Étienne were deducted three points as punishment for the pitch invasion during their relegation play-off the previous season). Dijon Football Côte d'Or, Nîmes Olympique and Chamois Niortais were relegated to Le Championnat National.
On 14 May, Barcelona were confirmed as La Liga champions with four matches to spare following a four-two victory Espanyol, clinching the club's twenty seventh title and first since 2019 although a tow-one defeat to Celtic Vigo in the last game of the season somewhat spoiled the party. Barça won the division by a whopping eleven points over El Clásico rivals and last season's champions, Real Madrid. It was something of a disappointing season for Los Blancos, despite defeating Barça three-one at The Bernabéu; as well as losing the title, they got a right pants-down hiding off Sheikh Yer Man Ciy in The Champions League although they did beat Osasuna in the final of the Copa Del Rey. Also qualifying for next year's Champions League are Atlético Madrid, Real Sociedad and Servilla (as winners of the Europa League). Villarreal and Real Betis will compete in the Europa League and on the final day of the season, Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao, Girona and Rayo Vallecano were all in with a shout of becoming the eighth Spanish side in a European competition next season via the Europa Conference League. Osasuna's two-one victory over Girona enabled the Pamplona side to snatch the Conference League place. Espanyol and Elche were relegated to the Segunda División long before the season's climax but the third relegation place saw a blanket finish in which any one of six clubs could have suffered the drop on the final day. Valladolid's goalless draw with Getafe saw Los Pucelanos finish in the final relegation slot. Unión Deportiva Las Palmas and Granada Club de Fútbol were promoted.
Benfica secured a record thirty eighth Primeira Liga title after beating Santa Clara three-nil on the final day of the Portuguese football season. They finished two points ahead of FC Porto. Both clubs will compete in next season's Champions League. Braga qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round. Sporting Lisbon will play in the Europa League whilst, Arouca and Vitória de Guimarães qualified for the Europa Conferece League. Paços de Ferreira and Santa Clara, both whom had disastrous seasons, were relegated to Liga Portugal 2. Moreirense and Farense won promotion. Porto defeated Braga in the Taça de Portugal on 4 June.
The four qualifiers for the Champions League at the preliminary round are Icelandic champions Breiðablik, Buducnost Podgorica of Montenegro, Andorra's Atlètic Club d'Escaldes and Tre Penne the league winners in San Marino. Two of these will progress to the first qualifying round joining, amongst others Israel's Maccabi Haifa, Sweden's BK Häcken, Bulgaria's Romania Farul Constan?a, Qarabag Baku of Azerbaijan, Hungarian champions Ferencváros, Poland's Raków Czestochowa, Kazakhstan's Astana, Slovan Bratislava representing Slovakia, Slovenia's Olimpija Ljubljana, Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol, Lithuania's Žalgiris, Bosnia & Herzegovina's Zrinjski Mostar, Finland's HJK, Luxembourg's Swift Hesperange, Latvia's Valmiera, Kosovo's Ballkani, Armenia's Urartu, Albania's Partizani, the Faroe Islands' KÍ, Estonia's Flora, Malta's Hamrun Spartans, Georgia's Dinamo Tbilisi, North Macedonia's Struga and Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps. Shakhtyor Soligorsk should have qualified as champions of the Belarusian Premier League but were found extremely guilty of match-fixing by the ABFF and, as a consequence, denied a UEFA license. Runners-up Energetik-BGU Minsk were also found guilty of the same charge. As a result, the Football Federation of Belarus awarded the Champions League spot to BATE Borisov, who finished third in the league. Clubs joining the competition at the second qualifying round stage include Norwegian champions Molde, Danish league winers Copenhagen, Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb, Turkey's Galatasaray, Aris Limassol of Cyprus, Servette the runners-up in the Swiss Super League and Panathinaikos who finished second in the Greek league. The third qualifying round introduces the likes of Greek chamions, AEK Athens, the Czech Republic's Sparta Prague and Sturm Graz who finished second in the Austrian Bundasliga. The play-off round will feature the champions of the Belgian Pro League (Royal Antwerp) and Swiss champions Young Boys of Bern. Anyone who makes it through all of that to the group stages will join Ukranian champions FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Star Belgrade of Serbia and Austrian champions FC Red Bull Salzburg along with the qualifiers from England (including, of course, this blogger's beloved Magpies), Spain (including 2023 Europa League winners Servila), German, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Scotland. On 28 February 2022, all Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The seven teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association all play in the Swiss league pyramid. The only competition organised by the LFV is the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which (Fussball Club Vaduz) qualify for the Europa Conference League.
A total of one hundred and seventy seven teams from fifty four of the fity five UEFA member associations (excluding Russia - because no one likes them) will participate in the 2023–24 Europa Conference League. Other qualifiers for the competition besides those already mentioned, include HNK Hajduk Split, Osijek and Rijeka (Croatia), Rapid Wien (Austria), Partizan Belgrade and Vojvodina (Serbia), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Brann, Bodø/Glimt and Rosenborg (Norway), Nordsjælland (Denmark), Club Brugge and Gent (Belgium), Luzern and Basel (Switzerland), PAOK and Aris (Greece), Viktoria Plzen and Bohemians Praha (Czech Republic), Fenerbahçe and Besiktas (Turkey), Omonia, APOEL and AEK Larnaca (Cyprus), Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Djurgårdens IF, Hammarby IF and Kalmar FF (Sweden), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), Sepsi OSK, FCSB and CFR Cluj (Romania), Gabala, Sabah and Neftçi (Azerbaijan), Zalaegerszeg, Kecskemét and Debrecen (Hungary), Legia Warsaw, Lech Poznan and Pogon Szczecin (Poland), Ordabasy, Tobol and Aktobe (Kazakhstan), Spartak Trnava, DAC Dunajská Streda and Žilina (Slovakia), Celje, Maribor and Domžale (Solvenia), Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino, Dinamo Minsky and Isloch Minsk (Belarus), Petrocub Hîncești, Zimbru Chișinău and Milsami Orhei (Moldova), Kauno Žalgiris, Panevežys and Hegelmann (Lithuania), Borac Banja Luka, Željeznicar and Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), KuPS, Honka and Haka (Finland), Differdange 03, Progrès Niederkorn and F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), Auda, RFS and Riga (Latvia), Drita and Gjilani (Kosovo), Pyunik, Ararat-Armenia and Alashkert (Armenia), Egnatia, Tirana and Vllaznia (Albania), Víkingur, HB Tórshavn and B36 Tórshavn (the Faroe Islands), Narva Trans, FCI Levadia and Paide Linnameeskond (Estonia), Birkirkara, Gzira United and Balzan (Malta), Torpedo Kutaisi, Dinamo Batumi and Dila Gori (Georgia), Makedonija, Shkupi and Shkëndija (North Macedonia), Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Bruno's Magpies and Europa (Gibraltar), Víkingur Reykjavík and KA (Iceland), Sutjeska and Arsenal Tivat (Montenegro), Inter Club d'Escaldes and FC Santa Coloma (Andorra) and Virtus and Cosmos (San Marino). The first qualifying rounds will take place from 20 June. Yes, a mere couple of weeks and the 2023-24 football season will have begun and the race for Europe starts all over again.
