Ceemo

First Qualifying Round Draw FK Sutjeska (MNE) V SS Cosmos (SMR) Balzan FC (MLT) V NK Domžale (SVN) FC Vaduz (LIE) V FC Neman Grodno (BLR) Ararat-Armenia FC (ARM) V KF Egnatia (ALB) FC Torpedo Kutaisi (GEO) V FK Sarajevo (BIH) Alashkert FC (ARM) V FK Arsenal Tivat (MNE) FK Željezničar (BIH) V FC Dinamo Minsk (BLR) La Fiorita 1967 (SMR) V FC Zimbru Chisinau (MDA) NK Maribor (SVN) V Birkirkara FC (MLT) KF Tirana (ALB) V FC Dinamo Batumi (GEO) Dundalk FC (IRL) V FCB Magpies (GIB) Víkingur (FRO) V Inter Club d'Escaldes (AND) FC Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) V SC Gjilani (KOS) Linfield FC (NIR) V KF Vllaznia (ALB) KA Akureyri (ISL) V Connah's Quay Nomads FC (WAL) KF Shkëndija (MKD) V Haverfordwest County AFC (WAL) FC Haka Valkeakoski (FIN) V Crusaders FC (NIR) HB Tórshavn (FRO) V Derry City FC (IRL) Riga FC (LVA) V Víkingur Reykjavík (ISL) MŠK Žilina (SVK) V FC Levadia Tallinn (EST) FC Pyunik (ARM) V JK Narva Trans (EST) Panevezys (LTU) V FC Milsami Orhei (MDA) FC Tobol Kostanay (KAZ) V FC Honka Espoo (FIN) FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda (SVK) V FC Dila Gori (GEO) FK Makedonija GP Skopje (MKD) V FC RFS (LVA) KF Dukagjini (KOS) V Europa FC (GIB) Penybont FC (WAL) V FC Santa Coloma (AND) FC Hegelmann Litauen (LTU) V FC Shkupi 1927 (MKD) F91 Diddeleng (LUX) V Saint Patrick's Athletic FC (IRL) B36 Tórshavn (FRO) V Paide Linnameeskond (EST) Gżira United FC (MLT) V Glentoran FC (NIR) Second Qualifying Round draw takes place tomorrow. This is interesting for us as we will see who the 9 sides above us in the seedings get.

Ukranian sides have tended to play their home games in European competitions in Poland.

The advantage that we get is that we go automatically to the Play-off round whilst those 9 sides have to play two extra rounds just to get to the same stage.

So a few things from the last few days, Juventus finally abandoned the Super League idea today which is probably to coincide with avoiding a ban from UEFA. If Juventus are banned from Europe next season, then after losing last night Fiorentina would take their position courtesy of finishing 8th in Serie A. Fiorentina's coefficient would be lower than ours if they qualified and we would then be seeded. Courtesy of West Ham winning last night, that moved Villa's coefficient from 21.799 to 21.856. Still not enough to move ahead of Viktoria Plzen who have 22.000. A City win at the weekend will also unlikely be enough to dislodge Plzen and put Villa into a guaranteed seeded position.

Confirmed there a few minutes ago that Viborg have finished in 4th spot in Denmark and will face Midtjylland next Friday evening at 17:00. We need a Viborg victory in that one along with Fenerbahce beating Istanbul Basaksehir next Sunday.

The Spanish scenario wouldn't make much difference to us as all those Spanish sides are below us anyway in the coefficient rankings. It would be possible with the Italian scenario but it's difficult to know who would take the extra spot as they would be losers from the Europa League qualifying rounds and that is currently unknown. It has actually happened before when Unai Emery won the Europa League with Villarreal in 2021 and Spain had to vacate a spot in the Europa Conference League the following season.

Permutations in Italy and Spain today for the Europa Conference spots: La Liga: 7th Osasuna - 50 pts 8th Athletic Bilbao - 50 pts 9th Girona - 49pts 10th Rayo Vallecano - 49pts 11th Sevilla - 49pts Mallorca vs Rayo Vallecano Real Sociedad vs Sevilla Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Osasuna vs Girona If Osasuna win at home to Girona, they qualify. Anything else and it gets tricky as Spain sorts team level on points by head to head rather than goal difference, so it's a minefield. In the highly, highly unlikely event that Sevilla finish 7th, Spain would vacate their Europa Conference League spot for next season as Sevilla are already in the Champions League next season. Serie A: 5th Atalanta - 61 pts 6th Roma - 60 pts 7th Juventus - 59 pts Atalanta vs Monza Roma vs Spezia Udinese vs Juventus Roma and Atalanta are in pole position for the Europa League spots with two home games that are very winnable. Juventus would have to hope that either slip up and they win to get a Europa League spot. In the event that Juventus are barred from Europe next season by UEFA for financial irregularities, Atalanta and Roma would take the Europa League spots and the Conference League spot would be passed down to Fiorentina who finished 8th. If Fiorentina manage to beat West Ham on Wednesday in the Europa Conference League Final, then similar to Sevilla's position, that space would also be vacated next season.

Results in France tonight mean that it is Lille who finish in 5th and take the Europa Conference League spot. Eintracht Frankfurt losing in the German Cup Final, means they have to settle also for the Europa Conference League. With them being in the Champions League this season and winning the Europa League last season, they will be clearly one of the main contenders for this competition next season. Also as an aside, West Ham and Man City both winning their finals this week would improve our coefficient but it doesn't appear that it would be enough to overtake Viktoria Plzen who are the team above us in the seedings.

Midtjylland won 4-2 so another result goes against for seeding purposes. They'll play Viborg away sometime next week. The thing is about the 9 or so teams that have to play a round before the draw is made. You would think that surely at least one would lose but all 9 would be heavy, heavy favourites to progress. Hopefully with football being football, that one of them would trip up.

PSG really are a terrible club in every possible way. Look at the amount of French talent spread around Europe that they never seem to have any interest in. Mbappe is the only PSG player named in the current French squad. They could easily build a dynasty with young French talents and take on Europe, but they just go for names all the time and have no identity on the pitch.

Grasshoppers have a certain Andre Moreira in goal. They never stood a chance.

See also that Juventus are currently in the Europa Conference spot in Serie A. There is a huge possibility that they could be excluded from UEFA competitions next season due to their recent misgivings. That ruling will take place in June sometime.

It is only a projection and is assuming that all seeded teams beat the unseeded teams in the previous rounds, so Athletic would be more likely to be seeded if they qualify when the time comes. Villa would be able to be play in the same competition as Vitoria as far as I know as NSWE don't have a controlling stake in the club, i.e, greater than 50%.

https://twitter.com/UefaRankings/status/1661005894434570245 We would be seeded.

Should be game over. Unreal from Mitoma in fairness.

Terrible goalkeeping.

Brighton secure European Football if they win tomorrow, so hopefully they will have the feet up when they play us last.

9 minutes of injury time?

WISSA!

Vitoria qualified for the Europa Conference League yesterday after beating Rio Ave 1-0. Who knows, we might get to face them in that competition yet.

According to AS (spanish media), they are saying that Villa want a heavyweight guy in transfer negotiations and Alemany fits the bill. Would seem that the Antonio Cordon rumour was actually him being set up to replace Alemany at Barcelona.

He has only been at Barcelona for a couple of years and all those financial issues are none of his doing. He has done a tremendous job in terms of recruitment and the majority of Barca fans that I am reading about are pretty disappointed that he is leaving. Has huge contacts in the game and would be a incredible coup for the club. Imagine leaving a huge job at Barcelona to join the Villa!

Italian media linking us with having a big interest in Denzel Dumfries of Inter Milan this morning. Has been inconsistent at Inter, but undoubtedly has talent.