This past weekend Las Palmas won again at home with a 4-1 success over Real Betis. The result took Las Palmas onto thirty-eight points for the season. However things aren't as rosy when Las Palmas are away from the Canary islands. Of that thirty-eight points total, only six have come away from home. So are Las Palmas and other island clubs hindered by their location?
Las Palmas are the only island team competing in La Liga this season. The other big Canary island club, Tenerife, are challenging for promotion from Segunda. Tenerife haven't been in the top division since 2009-10 and since then have even spent time in the third tier. The Segunda this season also features Real Mallorca, although that might not be the case next season given the Palma club are struggling badly. No island team has ever won La Liga and Mallorca were the only one to qualify for the champions league back in 2001-02.
Over in Serie A it is all but mathematically confirmed that the island of Scilly will be without representation next season. Palermo's paltry total of fifteen points has them slipping into Serie B. Oddly however, Palermo have won twice as many points away from home this season with ten collected.
Barring a drastic combination of results, Sardinia's Cagliari will be hanging around the top division next season. They have won twice as many points at home than on their travels this campaign. Back in Scilly, this season could've featured two sides from the island had Trapani overcome Pescara last season. Trapani now find themselves engulfed in a relegation dogfight in Serie B.
Unless Corsica's SC Bastia can avoid slipping through the Ligue 1 relegation trap door this season, next season will be the first since 2010-11 that there will be no Corsican involvement in Ligue 1. Of Bastia's twenty-eight points, ten have come away from the Mediteranean island. Arch-rivals AC Ajaccio are mid-table in Ligue 2 with the majority of their thirty-nine points coming at home. The tiny Gazélac Ajaccio are also in mid-table after their debut top flight campaign last season.
The Portuguese archipelago of Madeira last season had three top division clubs. Next season it could very well be just one. Nacional currently occupy seventeeth place in the Superliga. There is no significant difference in their home and away records this season. Funchal rivals Maritímo however do have a significant difference. Their home record has yielded more than twice as many points than on their travels. Such a record sees them sitting in sixth.
União da Madeira find themselves fourth in the segunda and like Maritímo there is a twenty point difference in favour of their home record.
The only Azores side in Portugal's top two divisions, Santa Clara have won twelve more points at home than on their travels. The club however last graced the top flight in 2002-03.
In Greece there aren't many island teams in the Super league. Historically it was usually OFI Crete and Ergotelis in the top division but just the one Crete team features in the top flight this season and that's Platanias. Their home record is almost twice as good as their away record which places them in seventh place. No Crete club has managed to win the national title.
The holiday island of Corfu has PAE Kerkyra competing in the top flight this season after promotion last term. The club was formed from a 2013 merger of AO Kerkyra and Kassiopi FC. Last season Lesbos club Kalloni were relegated from the Super league and this season look like taking the drop into the third tier. Crete clubs OFI and Chania also feature in the second tier with the latter battling the drop.
Island teams across Europe have tended to struggle. In fact only twice have island clubs managed to wrestle the title off the mainland in Europe with Cagliari in 1970 and IFK Mariehamn's title win last October in Finland's Veikkausliiga. The logical and simplistic conclusion is that their island location hinders the chances of success. There are a myriad of reasons why, one of which is money. In a lot of cases these teams spend more on travel costs than anyone else in their leagues. Money that mainland teams can spend on players. The travel expenditure also deprives money to keep star players at these clubs. For example Las Palmas couldn't afford local talent such as David Silva, Juan Carlos Valerón, Jesé Rodríguez, Mauro Icardi and Sandro Ramírez, who all left the island at young ages.
As we have also seen with some teams, their records on their travels are significantly poorer than their home records which translates to rarely higher than mid-table finishes. If the away records could be improved then perhaps these clubs could buck the struggle trend associated with island teams.
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