It started as a summer tournament for degenerate gamblers who needed a fix during the offseason. It became a UEFA-sanctioned event for clubs who felt they were good enough to compete in the UEFA Cup but couldn’t qualify through standard means. And it’s going to be abolished after this year. Nevertheless, it’s become al the rage in England.
Everton have applied to enter the Intertoto Cup next season, despite lying fourth in the Premier League – three points clear of rivals Liverpool.
The club claim that the decision is a safety net following Tottenham’s success in the Carling Cup, and does not indicate a lack of belief that David Moyes’s team will continue their strong run of form in the league – the Merseyside club have not lost (a Premier League match) since the 4-1 defeat to Arsenal on December 29.
So here’s how it works in England: the top four clubs in the Premier League qualify for the Champions League. The 5th-place club and the FA Cup and Carling Cup winners qualify for the UEFA Cup. However, if the Carling Cup winner finishes top four in the league, that UEFA Cup bid drops to the 6th place team, and if the FA Cup winner finishes top four, the FA Cup runner-up gets the bid — unless that runner-up also finishes top four, and then the bid falls to the 7th-place club.
Got all that? Good. That’s how it happened last year. Chelsea won the Carling Cup and beat Manchester United for the FA Cup, but since Man U won the league and Chelsea finished second, the UEFA Cup bids went to 6th-place Everton and 7th-place Bolton.
This year, however, Tottenham Hotspur upset the apple cart. They won the Carling Cup and got the UEFA Cup bid that came with it. So now, the 4th-place club gets a Champions League bid, the 5th-place club gets a UEFA Cup bid, and pending the results of the upset-heavy FA Cup, the 6th-place club gets… nothing. Zilch. Bugger all. Diddly-squat.
This makes the Intertoto Cup a no-brainer for the likes of Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City, all whom have applied — and all of whom petered out early in the FA Cup. If their seasons turn south and they don’t get at least a UEFA Cup bid, they can get in through this back door, which consists of one fairly easy home-and-away tie in July against some third-tier club on the continent that clearly lacks the talent of an average Premier League side.
UEFA, however, is abolishing the Intertoto Cup after this year. It’s a clear message to the clubs — earn it on the pitch, because we only want the best of the best, and if you come up short, you can piss right off with the degenerate gamblers who built this dead competition. So there.
Juande Ramos just made two disrespected cup competitions look a lot more attractive. Funny how that works out, huh?
1 response so far ↓
1 The Man // Mar 20, 2008 at 6:25 pm
“they can get in through this back door” – Sven will most probably try anyones “back door” to get city into euro if you get my drift