The Big Europa League Adventure

ASLEFshrugged

Dinamo Zagreb lost to Villarreal in the Europa League quarters last season, knocked out Spurs in the round of 16.

We saw some of their players in the Euros, GK Dominik Livakovic, CF Bruno Petkovic, LW Mislav Orsic and RW Luka Ivanusec all played for Croatia while RB Stefan Ristovski and DM Arijan Ademi both played for Macedonia

whupathman

Good draw should be fun to watch

adecoker

It certainly looks like a decent draw, as far as decent draws go.

We are going to finish bottom of the group.

claretandbluesky

Is it just top two go through?

Lukerz

Top goes through
Second plays a Champions League drop out
Third Europa Conference

Fortuneseeker

Lets just concentrate on winning the group as UEFA as usual have deciding they want as many opportunities for the big teams to stay in their competitions for as long as possible.

OutcastLondoner

I can just see us coming second and having to play Barcelona in the playoff game.

alderz

OutcastLondoner said:

I can just see us coming second and having to play Barcelona in the playoff game.

Good. Imagine hosting Barcelona. If occasions like that aren’t the reason we want to be in these competitions then I don’t know what is, tbh.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Yeah, better than going out to some Armenian part-timers.

Fortuneseeker

Let’s hope that is the only way Braithwaite gets to play at the London Stadium.

ASLEFshrugged

Zagreb has a Museum of Broken Relationships and a Lord of the Rings themed pub called Tolkien's House

And trams, I love a good tram

IronHerb

UEFA Europa League Group H fixtures

Thursday 16 September, 5.45pm – Dinamo Zagreb v West Ham United
Thursday 30 September, 8pm – West Ham United v Rapid Vienna
Thursday 21 October, 8pm – West Ham United v Genk
Thursday 4 November, 5.45pm – Genk v West Ham United
Thursday 25 November, 5.45pm – Rapid Vienna v West Ham United
Thursday 9 December, 8pm – West Ham United v Dinamo Zagreb

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Probably the toughest fixture up first.

IronHerb

I agree but think that will suit us before we get fatigued. 😁

claretandbluesky

It will give us an idea of what task we face being in the Europa league. If we can hold our own against the pot 1 team away from home we would gain some confidence.

MunichHammer

And we will find out if we really need to add to our squad before the next window opens.
We should get along alright until Christmas and if we get into the knock-out stages we can add to our squad then. 😉

Fortuneseeker

Munich, Shouldn’t we have already realised that the time is now?

MunichHammer

Well, last time we added quite a few players and were out of the competition before the ink was dry.
I think we should be able to get along until Jan with what we have and if we are still in Europe then go get some players.

Brother_Sledge

Dinamo Zagreb away - Live on BT Sport 2 , Thursday 16th K.O 5.45pm

IronHerb

Well, Antonio has booked his place in the team seeing he's suspended for the United match.

buffybegood

Ahead of tonight's game, I wonder if someone could give me some idea of how good the other teams in the group are please? I watch next to no European football including the Europa and Champions Leagues, so really have no idea of the relative strength of the other teams.

I know we came from the 3rd pot, but some teams I'm sure get regular European football (and therefore points towards their ranking) purely because they're in pretty rubbish leagues (I know the standard of the league you play in is also included, but I'm sure Celtic will rank much higher than us purely because they're had regular European football for the last 5 or 10 years).

alderz

buffybegood said:

Ahead of tonight's game, I wonder if someone could give me some idea of how good the other teams in the group are please? I watch next to no European football including the Europa and Champions Leagues, so really have no idea of the relative strength of the other teams.

I know we came from the 3rd pot, but some teams I'm sure get regular European football (and therefore points towards their ranking) purely because they're in pretty rubbish leagues (I know the standard of the league you play in is also included, but I'm sure Celtic will rank much higher than us purely because they're had regular European football for the last 5 or 10 years).

It's hard to give a measure, tbh.

UEFA ranks all of the member associations, so you can sort of tell the comparative strength of leagues. The Croatian association is rated 15th, Belgian 13th, and Austria 8th. So, none of the leagues are complete Mickey Mouse leagues, but are not as strong as the league we play in. (https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/#/yr/2022).

Yes, being in European competition gives you a better coefficient rating. Dinamo got to the Europa QF last time out, topping a group with Wolfsberger, Feyenoord and CSKA Moscow without losing a game. They then knocked out Krasnodar and Spurs in the knockout rounds, before losing to Villarreal (eventual winners), so they DEFINITELY have a good pedigree. This year though, they lost to Sheriff of Moldova in the Champions League playoff, which is a pretty bad result for them. In 2019/20 they finished bottom of their Champions League group, in 2018/19 they won their Europa league group and got through to the Ro16. Basically, they are a good Europa League team, and a bad Champions League team.

Genk didn't play in Europe last year, but the year before they got 1 point and finished bottom in their Champions League group, in 2018/19 they won their Europa League group (before getting smashed by Sparta Prague in the first knock out round).

Rapid Wien played in the Europa last season, finishing third in Arsenal's group. They got 7 points, but largely because Dundalk got smashed by everyone. 2019/20 they weren't in Europe, and in 2018/19 they finished second in their Europa League group then got beat by Inter Milan.

Basically, they all play in worse leagues than us, but they all have far greater European pedigree, and recent experience of this tournament. They've all gotten out of the group stage in the past three years, so they aren't mugs.

eskimoking

That sheriff team beat shakhtar yesterday so they’re no pushovers. Great summary though Ald, thank you!

buffybegood

Cheers for that alderz 👍

Ironduke

Good overview ald, and well described. I have ignored European comps since Hammers last appeared in one. I expected Zagreb to be a greater challenge than the performance they put out Thursday. Having researched a bit more, I reasonably confident Hammers can finish top of their group. The next round could prove more competitive.

imagelost

Hamstew said:

They are now going through the technical details of how the draw is made and my head just exploded.

Justifying there jobs

IronHerb

This seasons Europa Prize Money: -

Qualified to group stage: €3,630,000 ✅
Match won in group stage: €630,000 x 2 ✅
Match drawn in group stage: €210,000
1st in group stage: €1,100,000
2nd in group stage: €550,000
Knockout round play-offs: €500,000
Round of 16: €1,200,000
Quarter-final: €1,800,000
Semi-final: €2,800,000
Runner-up: €4,600,000
Champion: €8,600,000

Coefficient Ranking payment: €1,056,000 ✅
Market Pool** (Group Stage) €2,092,500 ✅

Running total earned after Rapid Vienna (H): €8,038,500 😎

**Market Pool worth €139,500,00. Split into 2 parts: -

Part 1 -  €69,750,000 divided across number of associations represented in Group Stage (20). England receives €3,487,500 split 60%/40% to Cup Winner/2nd team so West Ham receive €1,395,000.

Part 2 -  €69,750,000 divided across the number of rounds (Group Stage - 40%, Round of 16 - 20%, Quarters - 13%, Semis - 8%, Final - 4%). The money is divided by the number of associations represented in each round. For the Group Stage England receives €1,395,000 that is equally split across their representatives so West Ham receive €697,500.

There is also gate money to be taken into consideration. 😁

MrsGrey

And our upcoming fine ...


But seriously, I wonder what our expenses are for our European games, at home (stewards etc) and away (transport, accommodation and so on).

IronHerb

Wasn't the deal for 23 or 24 home games per season with a fee of £100k for additional home fixtures? The rental includes stewarding, or did. We have to pay £100k for qualifying for the Europa League and c.£300k for finishing 6th last season to LLDC. Don't know about travel expenses but a single win bonus should cover that for a long run in the competition imo.

claretandbluesky

Does anyone know how the group stage winners are decided in the case of level points?

Would it be goal difference and then goals scored and then head to head result between the teams or would head to head be considered first?

Too early to say but I can see both ourselves and Zegreb doing the double against the other two. It's so important to win the group or you could end up with not just two extra games to play but that game being against a very good team.