European Opponents 2012-2013

[666]

The EL gives our youngsters a chance to play against better teams than PSV and F-Word and someone red'n'white-blooded seriously suggests to stay out because it doesn't pay enough?

[insert a boatload of four-letter words]

No way! My Ajax chooses football over money.

[Dubbel]

All i read into it is that people fear we diminish our chances to win the Eredivisie championship by playing EL passed February and they're basically saying that semi-final EL is not worth dropping out of the pennant race for. I tend to agree with that. They do mention the money but as an afterthought.

[666]

"Too much energy for no money" in the first line, "title" tucked away well after the period. The next three posts are all about money without any mention of a title.

Second place can get you a cut of the CL money too. It's a slippery slope. If Ajax gives matches against strong opponents away on purpose for fear of losing against lesser competition there's something seriously wrong.

[Manneken Pis]

No way! My Ajax chooses football over money.

Whatever Pilippe meant to say I think you'll have a hard time pushing the argument he's he's a hard core capitalist!

No offence intended to anyone...

[Philippe]

No way! My Ajax chooses football over money.

Whatever Pilippe meant to say I think you'll have a hard time pushing the argument he's he's a hard core capitalist!
No offence intended to anyone...

Indeed, since I'm a member of the hard-left hard-core fans club.
IMO it's not about money over football. (Sigh).

I find UEFA competitions interesting only for the CL because that's the top competition, and because we can get some of the money we desperately need to survive (see recent discussions about transfers).

However, given the current situation and financial gap between Ajax and the 10 or so wealthiest clubs in Europe, and due to the format of the CL we hardly have any chance to win it.

As for the dismaying EL, I don't think any top club in Europe has any serious interest in it.

Moreover, we can hardly afford to play simultaneously both Dutch and European competitions on the long term. And that's the case of most sides all over Europe. I insist on the impact on the domestic title race : that's where some of our competitors wasted energy last season and the one before.

UEFA competitions currently are mainly about money. So let's keep football over money and focus on the Dutch League.

[Orange14]

Until UEFA reform both competitions (highly unlikely) the problems will remain. With only one automatic qualifying spot for the CL, at least one club is going all in to try to capture that spot (PSV). Their attempt failed last season and we don't know whether or not they will be able to win this season. EL football is bad because the matches are all on Thursday leaving less time for players to recover for weekend matches even though the opposition is usually of lesser quality (last season was strange because we drew ManU in the first knockout round. If you look at the two finalists from last season they had disappointing ends to their league campaigns because of the wear and tear of EL football. The one league that seems immune to this is the Portuguese league because the top teams are really so much better than the rest of them and it's not nearly as competitive as the Eredivisie. The top French teams also suffered greatly last season and did not re-qualify for CL football this year.

If one wants to focus on winning the Eredivisie, the two optimal results are to come in 4th in the CL pool thus missing the knockout round and not qualifying for the EL or coming in second and getting bounced in the first knockout match. Of course the most optimal result would be to win the CL and automatically getting in the next season via the Liverpool exemption but that's not likely to happen!

[Blind3]

Looks like Ajax to pot 3 after Braga won on pks today.

[cdnajaxfan]

I don't know if Pot 2 or 3 matters. All I want to avoid are the top 5 seeds in pot 1, Man City in Pot 2, and in pot 4, Dortmund and Dynamo Zagreb (unless they throw games for us this time around if we pay them!).

I think we have a shout with any other draw of going through. Look at teams like Arsenal who can't buy a goal right now and Milan who dumped most of their team.

[Philippe]

Those cheat mother f***ers won't throw the games to us unless we pay, and we won't. That's how it works, and the UEFA don't mind.


I hope we'll play : Arsenal or Barcelona, Schalke 04, and Celtic.

And not the boring-to-death combination : AC Milan, St Petersburg, Zagreb.

BTW : PSG in pot 3, another "miracle" by the UEFA.

[Ayman]

I really wish we would get Arsenal and Valencia. I doubt it though

[Blind3]

Pot 1

Chelsea FC
FC Barcelona
Manchester United FC
FC Bayern München
Real Madrid CF
Arsenal FC
FC Porto
AC Milan

Pot 2

Valencia CF
SL Benfica
FC Shakhtar Donetsk
FC Zenit St Petersburg
FC Schalke 04
Manchester City FC
SC Braga
FC Dynamo Kyiv

Pot 3

Olympiacos FC
AFC Ajax
RSC Anderlecht
Juventus
FC Spartak Moskva
Paris Saint-Germain FC
LOSC Lille
Galatasaray AŞ

Pot 4

Celtic FC
Borussia Dortmund
FC BATE Borisov
GNK Dinamo Zagreb
CFR 1907 Cluj
Málaga CF
Montpellier Hérault SC
FC Nordsjælland

[Blind3]

Praying for Arsenal , Braga or Valencia, and Nordsjaelland or Celtic .

[Ayman]

Teams I prefer in Pot 1 = Porto, Arsenal and Man Utd
Teams I want to avoid in Pot 1 = Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan

I dont mind either Bayern or Chelsea

There is only one team I want to avoid in Pot 2 and that is Benfica.

As for Pot 4 they are all ok as far as I am concerned

[Van basten]

This the weakest pot nr. 2 in many years..
Edit: Damn the draw is now!

[Blind3]

Bayern and Valencia would be a lot better than Barca and Benfica .

[Blind3]

Arsenal and KJH's Schalke 04.

[SPL]

hope for Man u group as they have Braga as 2 nd pot team . Braga must be one of the weakest teams in the competition.

[Blind3]

Just in time to draw pot 3 and screw us again....Ruud Gullit . Fuck me !!!!

[Van basten]

Please not group D..

[Van basten]

Fuck!!!

[Blind3]

Real Madrid , Man City, AJAX.... FUCKED AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!

[Blind3]

When we make the CL next year, could someone PLEASE kidnap Ruud Gullit ?

[King Litti]

Thanks Gullit, the worst group. Well, the European league final is in the Amsterdam Arena so let's finnish at least as third.

[Van basten]

now i hope we get Borussia

[SPL]

well that was fixed as 2 other groups were still left and we were not able to be drawn in them why?,both were weaker than what we have . Anyway this whole draw is fixed after all Dortmund are pot 4 but Shalke pot 2 .Why is the best team in Germany in pot 4 and a team who was 4th in their league in pot 2 .