Does anyone care about the Europa League?

Published by William | Filed under Football (aka soccer), UEFA Europa League

I don’t know about you guys, good folks of the football world, but seldom do I ever turn on SkySports or Fox Sports and hear them debating over who will make it through to the next round of the UEFA Europa League, formerly known as the UEFA Cup. Do you? Truthfully, I’m not sure anyone really gives a shit??


Ok, well that is not completely true (if you read my blog habitually, you will have probably realized by now that I backtrack like that a lot. Shucks.). I’m sure Seat, Adidas, and the numerous other sponsors that dump millions of dollars into it care. Then, probably all of the die hard fans of these smaller, lower-level clubs probably do, such as, you know, Partizan Beograd, FK Ventspils, and Bate-Borisov (stop acting like you know who they are). But after that, who else? If you are a fan of Villareal, Everton, or Roma, do you honestly give a shit about this tournament? I’m really curious to know how fans of historically successful clubs feel about the football equivalent of NCAA basketball’s NIT. Being a diehard Valencia fan myself, it’s hard to get pumped up for a competition that, if we did somehow make it through the 160 team field, no one really cares that much if you win. Of course, I will root for them and hope they do well, but if they got knocked out, I’d get over it. Furthermore, if they won, I’d get that much more frustrated thinking about how this team should be in the Champions League, nowhere else. And unless fans of any Premiership, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga teams are that accustomed to the ‘consolation bracket’, they must agree with me.


Please feel free to comment and put in your two cents on this matter. I would love to hear what you guys think.


Thursday’s Notable Europa League Matches (if you care…):


Villareal at SS Lazio – Odds | Match Preview


Everton FC at Benfica Lissabon – Odds | Match Preview


Werder Bremen at FK Austria Vienna – Odds | Match Preview


Slavia Prague at CF Valencia – Odds | Match Preview


Roma at Fulham – Odds | Match Preview


Hamburger SV at Celtic – Odds | Match Preview