by ALBANIA (Liga e Pare)
23 Rounds of 26 complete
(XX) = maximum points possible
Dinamo 56 (65)
------------------
Tirana 55 (64)
------------------
Partizani 40 (49)
Vllaznia 37 (46)
Teuta 33 (42)
Shkumbini 33 (42)
Beselidhja 27 (36)
Lushnja 25 (34)
Erzeni 25 (34)
Bylis 24 (33)
Flamurtari 23 (32)
Apolonia 23 (32)
------------------
Tomori 22 (31)
Luftetari 21 (30)
Dinamo and Tirana have both secured Europe, one to the 1st Qualifying
round of the CL, the other to the UEFA Cup qualifying round. Since
they'll also be meeting in the Cup final, the second UEFA spot goes to
the #3 team. After Saturday's games, that's become effectively a
two-team race.
Only the top 6 are safe (still), as the bottom two both won, creating
potential fun in the relegation battle.
As far as promotion from the second level... in Grupi B, Elbasani are
promoted. Grupi A... well, due to a slew of awarded matches, they've
decided to have a six-team playoff after the regular fixtures wrap up,
so it'll still be quite awhile before there's a clue there.
ANDORRA
Championship Group
Season complete
Encamp 44 CHAMPIONS; UEFA Cup Q
---------------------
Sant Julia 43
Santa Coloma 42
Rangers 23
Relegation Group
Season Complete
Lusitanos 22
Principat 22
Construccions Modernes 20
---------------------------
Sporting Club d'Escaldes 9 RELEGATED
Promoted: Racing d'Andorra.
ARMENIA
Summer season 2001
CL Q1: Pyunik Yerevan
UEFA Cup Q: Spartak Yerevan
May 27 is the date for the Armenian Cup final; semi-finals are 14/15
MAY, with MIKA v Pyunik and Spartak v Zvartnots. For Zvartnots (who
finished 3rd in the league), any result which involves MIKA not winning
the Cup means Europe for them.
AUSTRIA
35 rounds of 36 complete
Tirol Innsbruck 72 (75) CHAMPIONS; CL Q3
Sturm Graz 65 (68) (CL or UEFA)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Grazer AK 63 (66) (CL or UEFA)
-----------------------------
Austria Wien 53 (56)
K?rnten 50 (53)
Austria Salzburg 48 (51)
Schwarz-Wei? Bregenz 44 (47)
Rapid Wien 40 (43)
Ried im Innkreis 33 (36)
----------------------------
Admira/Wacker 15 (18) RELEGATED
CL Q3: Tirol Innsbruck, unless their cash problems force them to close
up...
Sturm Graz and Grazer AK face each other in the Cup final May 12; one
will go to the CL, the other to the UEFA Cup, regardless, so that leaves
one last UEFA Cup, which is all but secure for Austria Vienna. Should
Tirol's finances create a problem, AV is in, and Salzburg has a shot to
pip K?rnten.
In the 1st division, Pasching has now pulled even with Blieberg (! --
Blieberg were up by a substantial margin three weeks ago), with Lustenau
two points back and five games left.
AZERBAIJAN (Second Stage)
The situation now is that the 9 dissident clubs intended to continue the
championship outside the auspices of the AFFA, picking up with round 4
of the second stage on 04 MAY -- but as far as I can tell, that hasn't
happened. Still chaos, in other words.
BELARUS
Summer season 2001
CL Q1: Belshyna Babruysk
UEFA Cup Q: Dynama Minsk
UEFA Cup Q (CW):
The cup final is May 26; semifinals 10/16 May, Dynama Brest, FK Homel,
BATE Barysau, and Slavia Mazyr, but I don't know the pairings just yet.
BELGIUM
season complete
Genk 72 CHAMPIONS; CL Q3
Club Brugge 70 CL Q2
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Anderlecht 66 UEFA CUP Q
-----------------------
Gent 58
Standard Liege 57
Excelsior Mouscron 56 UEFA CUP 1 (CW)
Lokeren 55
St. Truidense 53
Germinal Beerschot 49
Molenbeek 44 RELEGATED*
La Louviere 44
Lommel 39
Charleroi 39
Westerlo 36
Lierse 35
Antwerp 31
-----------------------
Eendracht Aalst 21 RELEGATED
Beveren 14
Excelsior Mouscron plays Brugge in the Belgian Cup final 09 MAY, which
gives them the Cup winner's spot automatically.
The licensing thing is now cleared up, as the appeals have been held.
Molenbeek and Aalst are still going down to third level.
Second Level
season complete except for one game (Geel v Roeselare)
Mechelen 71
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Ingelmunster 67 Promotion playoff
RAEC Mons 62 Promotion playoff
Heusden-Zolder 56 [qualified for promotion playoff, cannot be
promoted]
Zuid-West 55 [cannot be promoted]
-----------------------
Cercle Brugge 52 Promotion playoff
Dessel Sport 47
Visetois 45
Strombeek 42
RFC de Liege 41
Excelsior Virton 39
Denderleeuw 38
Roeselare 37
Ronse 37
Deinze 36
-----------------------
Verbroedering Geel 35 Relegation Playoff
-----------------------
Tienen 35 RELEGATED
Patro Maasmechelen 30 RELEGATED
Mechelen are promoted. Zuid-West are excluded from the playoff (after
having forfeited their final game). I don't know, for sure, whether
Heusden-Zolder are being allowed to compete; if not, Visetois would take
their spot since Dessel also have no first division license. (Jeroen?
Anything to share?)
I'm kinda pulling for Cercle here, just because it doesn't seem right
not having them up top.
BOSNIA
25 of 30 rounds complete (less one game)
Zeljeznicar 53 (68)
- - - - - - - - - - -
Orasje 43 (58)
---------------------
Sarajevo 42 (57)
Siroki Brijeg 42 (60)
Olimpik 40 (55)
Posusje 40 (58)
Celik 38 (53)
Brotnjo 35 (50)
Sloboda 35 (50)
Velez 35 (50)
Jedinstvo 35 (50)
Zrinjski 35 (50)
Grude 34 (49)
Troglav 32 (47)
Iskra 31 (46)
Bosna 30 (45)
Zeljeznicar's got this mess in the bag, having won today while Orasje
and Sarajevo both lost. The interesting action remains the race for the
UEFA Cup spot, where there are now FIVE teams within 3 points of one
another (although Siroki does have a game in hand).
No relegation line up there, because nobody knows how they're going to
handle the Srpska merger.
BOSNIA-FSRS
I still don't have anything post-13 APR for these guys. Note that there
are FSRS teams in the B&H cup, and if one wins I presume, given the
merger plan, they'll be allowed into the UEFA Cup.
BULGARIA
Championship Group
32 of 36 rounds complete
Levski 49 (61)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Liteks 43 (55)
---------------------------
CSKA 35 (47)
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 31 (43)
Neftohimik 26 (38)
Slavia 22 (34)
Levski Sofia still look like they're comfortably on the way to the CL
Q1, and are now guaranteed Europe in some form. Liteks inched a little
closer, but aren't clear of CSKA yet, who may not be all that distressed
over the situation anyway due to the Cup situation: Semi-finals of the
cup are complete, with the second leg having been played on 1 MAY; CSKA
2-1 Liteks (5-3) and Levski 1-0 Marek (1-0). So it's CSKA v Levski in
the final (I still have no date), which means CSKA is all but guaranteed
Europe anyway unless Levski chokes the title.
Relegation Group
33 of 40 rounds complete
Lokomotiv Sofia 30 (51)
Marek 28 (49)
Spartak Pleven 23 (44)
Belasitsa 23 (44)
Spartak Varna 22 (43)
-------------------------
Cherno more 22 (43)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chernomorets 21 (42)
Beroe 11 (32)
Belasitsa continues their run toward safety. Still a long way to go.
Second level
21 of 24 rounds complete (plus one game)
Dobrudzha 42 (51)
Rilski Sportist 42 (51)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Botev 39 (48)
-------------------------
Vidima-Rakovski 37 (43)
Svetkavitsa 35 (44)
Rilski Sportist was promoted from 3rd level after last season, and look
to be in good shape for a second successive promotion; Dobrudzha also
appears set. This is it as far as who's still in the hunt.
CROATIA
season complete
Zagreb 67 CHAMPIONS, CL Q2
Hajduk 65 UEFA CUP Q
Dinamo 59 UEFA CUP Q (CW)
---------------------
Varteks 57 UEFA CUP Q
Rijeka 51
Slaven Belupo 42
Pomorac 40
Osijek 37
Zadar 36 [7]
Cibalia 36 [5]
- - - - - - - - - - -
?ibenik 36 [4] Playoff
Kamen Ingrad 35
---------------------
Hrv. dragovoljac 34 RELEGATED
Cakovec 32 RELEGATED
Marsonia 30 RELEGATED
Topolovec 14 RELEGATED
Big shift at the bottom, as predicted; Zadar leapt from straight
relegation to complete safety Saturday, while Hrvatski fell from a
reasonable shot at safety to straight relegation.
From what I can gather, they're shrinking the division, and the winners
of the two second level groups will playoff. In the North group,
Vukovar '91 holds a one-point edge with one game to go (winner of the
group faces Sibenik for promotion). In the South group, Istra has a
three-point lead over Uljanik (winner faces Kamen Ingrad for the
top-level spot).
CYPRUS
Season complete
CL Q1: APOEL
UEFA CUP Q: Anorthosis
UEFA CUP Q: AEL or Ethnikos
Promoted from Division B: Nea Salamina, Digenis Morfou, Aris
Anorthosis face Ethnikos in the cup final on 11 MAY.
CZECH REPUBLIC
28 of 30 rounds complete
Slovan Liberec 64 (69) CL
Viktoria Zizkov 63 (66)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sparta Praha 60 (63)
-------------------------
Bohemians Praha 45 (48)
Slavia Praha 44 (47)
Banik Ostrava 44 (47)
Brno 40 (43)
Teplice 39 (42)
Jablonec '97 37 (40)
Synot 36 (39)
Sigma Olomouc 34 (37)
Marila Pribram 34 (37)
Hradec Kralov 34 (37)
Chmel Blsany 28 (31)
-------------------------
Drnovice 24 (27) RELEGATED
Slezsky Opava 15 (21) RELEGATED
Drnovice won under pressure 1-0 at home to Hradec... and still got
relegated, as Blsany won 2-1 at home to Synot.
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