Newcastle United on the other hand started the season like a nightmare. Their return to the top flight was nowhere close to what they might have hoped for. Manchester United hit the Magpies back of the net thrice, winning their first game 3-0. The experts have already predicted Villa as this year’s relegation candidate; the opinion may have some adverse effect on the confidence of Villa players. However, it’s not over till it’s over, hence, one may experience a good game  of football from the Magpies and eventually prove the experts wrong.

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Live UEFA Europa League – there’s nothing easier than watching live football online. You don’t need any extra hardware to start watching UEFA Europa League online – just your PC or laptop and internet connection. You are literally minutes away from turning your PC into live Football TV.

The UEFA Europa League (UEFA Cup) is one of the greatest and most respected tournaments in all of European football. It began in 1971 as a replacement to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a tournament established to promote international trade fairs. Initially friendly matches were held between teams located in cities that held trade fairs. Out of these friendly matches a more regular and competitive tournament grew.

The UEFA Europa League evolved from the UEFA Cup, which itself was conceived by Switzerland’s Ernst Thommen who, along with Italy’s Ottorino Barrasi and England’s Sir Stanley Rous, later FIFA President, created a tournament for representative sides from European cities that regularly held trade fairs.

Forerunner
This forerunner to the UEFA Cup, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, was founded on 18 April 1955, two weeks after the founding of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup. The first Fairs Cup involved teams from Barcelona, Basle, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Lausanne, Leipzig, London, Milan and Zagreb. The original tournament lasted three years, with matches timed to coincide with trade fairs. Barcelona, using players purely from FC Barcelona, beat a London representative side 8-2 on aggregate in the final.

Club Involvement
For the second tournament the organisers reverted to club participation but the teams still had to come from cities staging trade fairs. Sixteen clubs took part in the 1958-60 tournament, after which it was staged on an annual basis. By 1962 the number of entrants had risen to 32; there are now over 100. In its early years, teams from southern Europe dominated, notably Barcelona, who won it three times, and Valencia CF who won it twice. In 1968 Leeds United AFC became the first northern European club to win the trophy, heralding a run of six successive wins by English sides.

Name Change
The fifth of these was in 1971/72, won by Tottenham Hotspur FC, and the first to be known as the UEFA Cup. The change of name was recognition of the fact the competition was now run by UEFA and no longer associated with the trade fairs. During the 1970s German, Dutch, Belgian and Swedish sides began to successfully compete with the English and between 1968 and 1984 only one team from the south – Juventus in 1977 – managed to disrupt the dominance of the northern Europeans.

Italian Success
But following back-to-back victories by Real Madrid CF in the mid-1980s, Italian clubs took control in the 1990s. Starting with SSC Napoli’s victory in 1989, Italian sides won the UEFA Cup eight times in eleven seasons, with FC Internazionale Milano winning it three times, before Galatasaray AŞ claimed it as Turkey’s first European club prize in 2000. With the exception of 1964 and 1965, the final had, like the previous rounds, always been a two-legged, affair. The format changed permanently to a one-tie final in 1998 when Inter beat S.S. Lazio 3-0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Inter, Juventus and Liverpool share the record of three UEFA Cup final successes apiece.

Competitions Merge
From 1999/00, domestic cup winners also qualified for the UEFA Cup after the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup was disbanded. In addition, clubs eliminated from the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and the eight third-placed finishers at the end of the group stage of the same competition entered the competition. A group stage was introduced for the first time in 2004/05 involving 40 teams playing four games.

UEFA Europa League
On 26 September 2008, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that from 2009/10 the competition would become the UEFA Europa League. This reflected a change to the format previously agreed, with the group stage expanding to 48 clubs, who would play six matches on a home-and-away format similar to the UEFA Champions League.

Bertoni Trophy
The trophy itself, which weighs 15kg and is silver on a yellow marble plinth, was designed and crafted by the Bertoni workshops in Milan for the 1972 final. It has no handles, its beauty lying in its simplicity. Just above the plinth, a group of players seem to be jostling for the ball. In fact they are supporting the octagonal cup which is emblazoned with the UEFA emblem.

Related contents:

1. UEFA Champions League
2. Scottish Premier League
3. English Premier League

The SPL was founded in 1998 and formed out of the Scottish Football League. The older Scottish Football League has been in existence since 1890 and has had a host of different divisions and teams. Clubs were frequently promoted and demoted at the end of the season. In the mid 70s the Scottish Football league set up a structure of three divisions – the Premier Division, the First Division, and the Second Division. The configuration stayed in place until 1994 when the Third Division was added. In 1998 the clubs in the Premier Division decided to follow the successful example of the English Premier League and form their own wholly separate league. As with the English Premier League, the motivating factor for this decision was money. League sponsorship money was evenly dived amongst all leagues in the Scottish Football league, something the top teams in the SFL did not agree with. It was decided that the top 10 teams from the Premier Division in the SFL would break off and form the Scottish Premier League. These original 10 teams were enlarged to 12, the current number of clubs, in the 2000/01 season.

Scottish Premier League Format

The promotion and demotion from the Scottish Football League to the Scottish Premier remained the same as it was between all divisions before the creation of the SPL. The 12th, or last, placed team in the premier league would be demoted to the Scottish First Division and replaced by the top finishing team from that league. This system had been in place for over a hundred years and worked well, although there were a few loopholes that some teams attempted to exploit. In 2003 Falkirk’s promotion was blocked thereby sparing Motherwell from being relegated. The same situation again occurred in 2004, however the league decided to alter the rules for promotion and relegation so that they were applied more fairly.

In its inception the league was sponsored by the Bank of Scotland, however that relationship was not renewed at the end of the 06/07 season. Instead, Clydesdale Bank took over sponsorship of the league and will do so at least through July of 2011.

The twelve teams in the league are required to play each other three times during the season. This can be either twice at home or twice away, but not three of either. Each teem is awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw with no points being awarded for a loss. At the end of the 33 games the teams are ranked by points, then goal differential, then goal for. The teams are then split into a top six and bottom six where each club will play a further five matches against those divisional opponents. After this is completed the bottom club is sent down to the Scottish First Division if the top team from that division meets the league’s qualifications for entry.

This basic structure and format forms the foundation of most of the principles within the league. Clubs compete hard not only for recognition within the league, but also to get a coveted spot within the UEFA champions league. Since the league was formed in 1998 it has slowly gained strength within UEFA rising from being ranked 26th during the inaugural season all the way to 10th as of 2008. Currently this means that two teams from the Scottish Premier League will qualify for the UEFA Champions League (usually those that finish first and second) as well as two for the UEFA Europa League (generally the 3rd and 4th placed teams). In addition if a team wins the Scottish Cup, the oldest national trophy in the world, and they have not made it into either league by their ranking they will be allowed to compete in the UEFA Europa League as a fifth team from the Scottish Premier and possibly Football leagues.

‘The Old Firm’ dominance

Since it began in 1998 only two teams have won the championship of the Scottish Premier League – Celtic and the Rangers. This long standing rivalry is referred to as the Old Firm and has its origins in a match from 1888. Between these two clubs 66 Scottish Cups and 93 Scottish League championships have been won. This rivalry is steeped in history and tradition with sectarianism being a primary focal point. The teams’ supporters and management have tried to move away from this relationship but old traditions die hard. Celtic is often backed traditionally by Irish Catholics and Irish Catholic supporters. The Rangers traditionally have been supported by the Protestant Loyalist community. This heated relationship has taken the rivalry of these two teams to a whole higher level. Recently however many have attempted to end the bigotry and hatred on both sides of the rivalry. Regardless of this, the two teams continue to dominate the Scottish Premier League and have some of the best football matches you will ever see. Passionate fans and play are the hallmarks of these competitions. The overall head to head record of matches between Celtic and the Rangers is very close, with a slight edge going to the Rangers. A total of all Scottish League, Scottish Cup, and League Cup matches gives a total of 152 wins for the Rangers, 137 wins for Celtic, with 92 draws. Celtic has begun to close the gap as of 2008 winning the last championship.

As you can see the Scottish Premier League is steeped in a history and tradition that dates back to the 19th century. Long standing rivalries will continue to dominate this league with a higher level of play as revenues increase. The league however will have to stay competitive it wishes to stay in business, as outside of the two dominant teams it can be difficult to maintain a football club.

Related contents:

1. UEFA Europa League
2. English Premier League
3. UEFA Champions League