Because I’m avoiding real work today went down a mini rabbit hole trying to put side by side the actual rewards for different european competitions. We all know this, but of course seeing the numbers drive home the overarching point that champions league is a game changer while Europa is nice and conference league is sorta cool.
On the bottom I put down totals for a team that goes 3W 1D 2L during group stage. First for a team that gets kicked out in first elimination round and second for a team that is the ultimate champ.
I do think its also worth noting that teams get a bit of prestige that goes beyond just money. And I think continuing to be seen as a team that plays in Europe (somewhere) every year is a good thing for players who want to make sure they’re playing somewhere that is visible and that could boost their future stock.
Anyway, I’d be happy if we manage to land in 7th even if, realistically the 7-12M I think we’d realistically get from it is not likely to make a very big difference in the team’s financial outlook. Pulling off an EL championship and CL qualification on the other hand…
Biggest surprise is that Conference League isn’t as crap as I expected it to be, financially. I think that’s partly related to the fact that the fixed costs of participation are not insignificant, so if they went much lower, teams in expensive leagues might start pushing back or forfeiting their participation because all the travel and hotel bills and extra player costs put them into the red.
However, maybe I’m biased since SevillaFC has never been in Conference League, but part of me thinks "Instead of creating the Conference League, why didn’t they just raise the stakes of the Europa League to put it more on par with UCL ?
Personally I never look at a team winning the Conference League and think “wow, impressive!”. Mostly one just thinks “poor chaps, they had a bad season last season and took that as a consolation prize now that their Top Tier team is back on track” (who are we kidding, the Conference League is always going to go to weakened top tier team, rarely is that trophy going to AZ Alkmaar or Malmo, right?)
I posted about my country’s club ‘Ballkani’ that participated in the group stages of this competition. The owner broke even from the last 3-4 seasons investment (+had a decent profit), managed to sell a player for 300k to CFR Cluj of Romania and maintained a very competitive squad who is in the verge of becoming the country’s superleague champion again.
So for smaller clubs of certain countries and regions this can be a great ROI… it’s almost like purely designed for these kind of clubs because at the end of the day, winning it is kind of like winning the Intertoto cup back in the day.
Interesting point shendm, yeah, the return for those teams could be pretty impactful… As is the opportunity to showcase players (and sell them later on) for those teams. For a team like us, in La Liga, or another major league, its hard to see a huge amount of additional value.
Still… its kind of fun to play other random teams? And a trophy still counts for something? Sort of? Maybe?
I’m talking myself out of it I guess…
Let’s win the Europa again and go get all that CL group stage money.
Saw this for the first time during Chris and Shendm’s visit to the Turin podcast, but hadn’t seen the actual payouts in La Liga based on league position.
So what it makes me realize is that there is some meaningful value in the difference between where we are (11th) and 7th of about 9m. So, just to say that qualifying for EL conference league would get us about ~8 million in rewards money (based on my post/estimate above) but there’s about another 9 million to gain just by climbing the table up to 7th. 17m is a meaningful amount of money at play for us in La Liga. It would help.
But of course… all basically inconsequential if we can manage to win Europa. Can’t wait til gametime in 3.5 hours. VAMOS!
And then the other day I realized that the Monchi curse really did seem to expire around January, the one year anniversary of the blackface debacle (which somehow is still not offensive to 99.5 percent of Spaniards).
But seriously, look at high market movements. Last January window: Martial disaster. Last summer: disaster. 2023 January, once the curse had worn off: Bryan Gil, Pape Gueye, Lucas Ocampos. Curse is broken.
Let this be a lesson to you all. Don’t do blackface. 1) it’s simply not OK in the first place, irrespective of curses. 2) you’ll be cursed for a minimum of a year.
PS - I was going to ask if Monchi had ever apologized for the blackface, but then I realized the answer is obvious. Of course he hasn’t, this is Spain we’re talking about. Andalucía no less. Not known as the world’s most diverse country or region.
big win for espanyol 1-2 away at vallecano. means we cant finish lower than 10th this week and could still end the week as high as 8th (if osasuna doesn’t beat atleti).
Bilbao win definitely making 7th look like a challenge with so few games and ourremaining games being very difficult. but might as well see how far we can climb while prepping for what we know matters most at this point on May 31st.
lets start with a win in a few hours against puta !
Regardless of how we finish, we turned round the season in spectacular fashion and got to a final. That keeps us in the ‘highly desirable’ category for young talent and restores to some extent our reputation. That bodes well for the Summer transfer market.
Big win for Valencia against RM. moves them up the tables a little safer from relegation. A bonus for us is Vini got a red card for hitting a player. He was talking and instigating the fight and continued to do so after getting the card on his way off the field. In a just world this would result in a multi match suspension. We shall see
Probably just a 1 match ban knowing the federation… but hopefully more than that. They still have other players who can create something out of thin air and score, but Vini would definitely be a huge casualty for them next Saturday night.
Some are more special than others. While I detest racism and agree with the sanctions on Valencia, Vini’s actions rose enough to warrant the red card and he should serve the punishment for it. Regardless of the provocation, one can control one’s reaction. The league is bowing to external pressure from abroad. Who’s who of Spain are coming out to denounce the Valencia fans, essentially giving a free pass to Vini.
I know that we’re largely channeling optimism around europa league and the magical mendilibar turnaround.
i was looking at the rewards from La Liga for different finishing spots in the table (ignoring money that comes with qualification for CL/EL/ELC). its still a bit grim.
if we finish 9th (as is pretty likely) we’ll get 10.8 million euros.
4th, like we finished last season would’ve gotten us 39.7m (not even counting CL money).
anyway, its not the moment to be such a downer, but the costs of this bad season will still plague us. and we need to return to being a top 4 club as soon as we damn can.
A little annoyed at the results today in La Liga. :poop: gives a win to Getafe, Espanyol gets an absurd draw from Atlético, and Valladolid somehow beats Barcelona. And on Sunday worst Valencia in ages somehow beats Madrid.
If I’m a Cádiz fan (and in a way I do really have a soft spot for them), it just seems so annoying to see the big teams (intentionally?) give points to your direct rivals for survival. Personally really wanting Geta and Espanyol to go down, as Valladolid has a couple players I love and Cádiz and Almería are our Andaluz brothers. Would prefer Valencia to go down but currently looks unlikely. Holding out hope.
Somehow I can only imagine Real Madrid is going to fight like their life depended on it against us
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