One way to settle a title

On Friday Moldova's top two Dacia and Sherrif Tiraspol both met in the final game of the league season. A win for either would secure the title and champions league football in July while a draw would force the tie-breaker. Both sides came into the game locked on sixty-four points each after twenty-six games. A defeat for Dacia two weeks ago at Milsami Orhei coupled with Sheriff's narrow 1-0 success away at Dinamo-Auto meant both sides would be going into the head-to-head level on points after they both registered victories last weekend.

In Moldova's Divizia Națională the tie-breaker for teams going for the title when level on points in a play-off. At the other end of the table both Academica Chișinău and Petroclub both finished level on points but it was the head-to-head tie breaker that ultimately saw Academica relegated. An so after Friday's 1-1 stalemate between the two sides, a play-off will be required to determine to champions. This is the only league in Europe in 2015-16 that will be going to a play-off to decide the winners. All other leagues use goal difference, goals scored or head-to-head results to separate teams level on points but in Moldova the play-off is the tie-breaker after points. 

The play-off will take place at a neutral venue, Zimbru's home ground has been chosen and will be played next Sunday. 

Dacia are aiming for only their second ever league title after first winning it in 2010-11 which ended the utter dominance of their opponents in the play-off Sheriff who were in that season aiming for their eleventh straight league title. For Sheriff they are looking to add to their haul of thirteen league titles since independence in 1992. 
Only five different sides have claimed the title in Moldova. The other three are Zimbru based in the capital Chișinău who have eight titles, Milsami Orhei who won their first title last season and Constructorul Chișinău who later became FC Tiraspol and are now no longer in existence after dissolving last year, they won the title once in 1996-97. 

Adíos Don Valerón

The weekend just gone was unusual in La Liga. All ten fixtures were scheduled for the same time which was to provide more suspense at the bottom and top ends of the league. As you may have heard Atlético bailed out of the title race by going down away to already relegated Levante, Barcelona put five past Espanyol and the less said about the Real Madrid game the better. Getafe and Sporting drew in a key six-pointer near the bottom and Granada assured safety with an impressive 4-1 success away to Europa league finalists Seville. However it was also a sad day.

Down in the Canary islands, Las Palmas faced Athletic Bilbao with the home side safe and Bilbao assured of Europe. The build up to the game was dominated by the news from a press conference the previous day. The best player to come from the Canary Islands, the player Andrés Iniesta would pay to watch, the player responsible for David Silva wearing number 21 and the player that would've won the Balon D'or had he played for a more fashionable club according Deportivo coach Víctor Sánchez, announced he was retiring at the end of the season. Juan Carlos Valerón on Sunday played his final home game in his career. In what was only his third start in the league he bowed out in the 73rd minute to a chorus of cheers and handshakes from not only Las Palmas players but Athletic Bilbao players as well.

Personally he is my all-time favorite player. A terrific player to watch for his passing and technical qualities. Even this season at the age of 40 he hadn't lost any of that accurate passing and vision. I remember watching a Copa del Rey game Las Palmas v Eibar earlier in the season, in which he started and he controlled the game. Finding teammates and space and always looking for the ball. In a league game against Getafe where he made his 400th appearance in La Liga he came on for the last ten minutes and right at the end of stoppage time was played in through on goal, unfortunately it was just a tad ahead of him and the chance to cap the occasion with a goal went.

Valerón emerged with Las Palmas when the Islanders were languishing between the 3rd tier Segunda B and Segunda división in the late nineties. His performances impressed Real Mallorca and he signed for the Balearic Islanders in 1997. His stay there would only last a season as three goals helped Mallorca finish 5th.
Atlético Madrid would bring him to the mainland and for the next two seasons Valerón would be an undisputed first choice playmaker. However in 1999-00 Valerón suffered his first relegation in his career as Atlético sunk to 19th. It was that summer that he signed for Deportivo, the new champions of Spain. From 2000 to 2004 Valerón would play his part in the emergence of the famed Super Depor side that would win the 2002 Copa del Rey title and agonizingly fall at the semi-final stage in the 2003-04 champions league to Mourinho's Porto.
Super Depor faded after that semi-final and it would be a slow decline over the next few years for the A Coruna club. Valerón effecively lost two seasons to persistant knee injuries from 2006 until midway through 2007-08. He won back his place in the team but Depor couldn't muster anything higher than 7th place finish in 2008-09. 2010-11 saw Deportivo fall through the relegation trap door. A final day defeat at home to Valencia meant Valerón had suffered his second relegation and it sealed the slow decline from force in Europe to a Segunda side. Valerón stayed with Deportivo to help them bounce back up to the top flight. He was successful as Depor finished 2nd to seal a swift return. However the return wasn't long term and in a dramatic final day in 2012-13 Depor were victims of Celta Vigo's escape on the final day and Depor were down again. This time Valerón did leave, signing for his hometown club of Las Palmas.
With Las Palmas he was part of the team that suffered a last gasp goal to Córdoba which meant Las Palmas missed out on a return to La Liga. The following season however they made amends for that narrow miss. They were involved in the play-offs and a late Sergio Araújo goal against Zaragoza sealed a return to La Liga for both Las Palmas and Valerón. A one year deal was signed last summer as Valerón finally had the opportunity to play in La Liga with his hometown club. Limited to mainly cameo appearances and starts in cup games, Valerón played his part as Las Palmas stayed in the top division.

What happens next for "El Flaco" as he is nicknamed remains to be seen. A possible coaching role with Las Palmas guiding the youngsters could be an option. The Canary islands remains a very productive region in talented footballers with the likes of David Silva and Jesé Rodríguez from the islands and the majority of the first team at Las Palmas are homegrown. The future remains bright for Los Amarillos.
So Don Valerón thank you for showcasing your sublime passing and technical qualities !

Kosovo accepted into UEFA

Yesterday Tuesday May 5th Kosovo was elected to become the 55th member of UEFA. Their election has ended an eight year battle to finally get accepted into European football's governing body. Next week they will find out if their FIFA application is accepted or not and many reports online suggest that should they obtain FIFA membership they'll be fast tracked in the world cup qualifiers that commence in September.

Their acceptance into UEFA and their pending FIFA application has been met with obvious joy and relief in Kosovo. However in the build up to the congress in which they were accepted the Serbian football association were crystal clear in their views of it all. No Kosovo in UEFA. In fact the election of Kosovo was very tight with the final result being 28-24 in favor. One vote less and Kosovo will have failed to get the majority of votes needed to be accepted into UEFA.

The City Stadium in Prishtina, home of FC Prishtina
source: wikipedia

Kosovo's election means they'll be involved in the Euro 2020 qualifiers and their club teams will now be eligible to participate in both champions and Europa leagues. No details have yet been released in terms of when the club teams will take part in European competition but I am assuming it will be in time for the 2017-18 season.

With Kosovar clubs entering European competition it'll force a change in which teams will enter at certain rounds of the competition. Presently in the champions league qualifiers the first qualifying round features the bottom eight leagues in Europe. With Kosovo starting at the bottom of the coefficient table this will bump up Estonia into the second qualifying round as it stands.
When Gibraltar entered UEFA in 2013 it wasn't until the 2014-15 season that they entered clubs into European competition. However UEFA only allowed them two teams to compete in both competitions. The current bottom two of the coefficient table Andorra and San Marino are only allowed two sides in the Europa league with one each in the champions league. Kosovo could be only allowed to enter two sides when they eventually take part in European competition.

The local league has been going since 1945 and the traditional power has been FC Prishtina who have seventeen titles to date. Other sides who have had their hands on the title on multiple occasions are KF Vëllaznimi, KF Besa and FK Trepca. This season the league is being led by Feronikeli with five rounds left to play. They are seven points clear of Hajvalia. FC Prishtina are struggling in 8th in the twelve team Superliga.
Next season will see the league take on a different challenge with the expected European places on offer for the top ranking sides.

Kosovo National team 
source: Berta/Ap

Another agenda of their membership is the personnel who will line out for the national team. The likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Lorik Cana, Adnan Januzaj and Valon Behrami are all Kosovo born and eligible to play for the national team.

However all of them are established internationals with the likes of Switzerland and Belgium. The Albanian national side is made up of a few Kosovar players also.
The success of their national side will depend on how many of the high profile players switch their international careers to Kosovo. On paper at least it has the makings of a decent side that would see them on possibly the same level as neighbors Albania.

Kosovo's acceptance into UEFA could in theory at least set the wheels in motion for other potential applications from other unrecognized nations. I have seen one report already suggesting that Crimea could possibly make an application despite not being recognized as an independent nation. A line really does need to be drawn because this has potential to get messy down the line. We haven't heard the last of Kosovo's election either with Serbia likely to take the decision to the court of arbitration of sport to reverse the decision.

Unbeaten no more

Last week on different sides of the continent saw the final two unbeaten records ended.

On Wednesday Crvena Zvezda were beaten by closest challengers Čukarički 2-1 at home. The result no only ended Crvena Zvezda's unbeaten run this season it also closed the gap at the top of the Serbian Superliga to six points with four rounds to play.

Yes the gap is now six points. The Serbian Superliga split after the regular thirty league game concluded which saw Crvena Zvezda finish twenty-eight points clear. However the split sees the teams half their point tallies up to "the nearest integer", you can thank wikipedia for that explanation. Crvena Zvezda have started the split sluggishly with a draw and now a defeat but do have a game in hand against Borac Čačak.  

The other only remaining unbeaten record to fall this week was on Saturday over in Luxembourg. Leaders F91 Dudelange lost 3-1 away to second placed Fola Esch and its also a result that opens an element of doubt to the formerly unbeaten team's title hopes. F91 Dudelange are now five points clear of Fola Esch after this result with three games to play. Still very much favorites it's how F91 Dudelange are going to react will be key to them remaining on course for winning back the title they lost last season. They host third placed Differdange 03 next weekend. 

So the final two unbeaten records for the 2015-16 campaign are gone. Gone within three days of each other just before the final month of the season.