After 0–2 in Belgrade and 2–3 on aggregate against Røde Stjerne, the dream of the first Norwegian Champions League participation in 17 years burst. The consolation prize for the yellow jerseys must be that they are now qualified for the series in the Europa League. And if Molde wins on aggregate in tonight’s match against Sweden’s Elfsborg (0-1 after the first match), they will also be ready for the Europa League. Although the biggest club cannons in Europe are in the Champions League, there are still several big clubs that Glimt could risk pulling out of their hat during Friday’s draw at 1 p.m.: Manchester United Tottenham Roma Lazio Eintracht Frankfurt Real Sociedad Athletic Bilbao Rangers Tottenham could also risk meet Bodø/Glimt in the autumn Europa League. Photo: Reuters Completely new format – provides more matches Like the Champions League, Uefa has made major changes to the format for the Europa League ahead of this year’s season. Firstly, the number of teams has been increased from 32 to 36, and the number of matches in the preliminary round has been increased from six to eight. Gone is the classic group stage, followed by playoffs. Instead, the teams will play a sort of series game, where all the teams are fighting to get as high as possible in the table. The series takes place through each team drawing eight different opponents. Which teams you meet are drawn from four different pools, based on Uefa’s own ranking system. This is how the “new” Europa League will be played. This year’s Europa League consists of 36 teams. Gone is the classic group stage, followed by playoffs. Instead, the teams will play a sort of series game where each team draws 8 teams to play against. Which teams you meet are drawn from four different pools, based on a separate ranking system. The teams play only one match against each of the teams they draw. They will therefore not play both away and at home. Normal scoring is given, three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. When the 8 series rounds are over, the 8 best teams automatically advance to the playoffs, which start with the 16th semi-final. The teams that end up in 9th to 24th place in the series will play a play off against each other for the remaining playoff places. Then 9.-16. place draw opponents among those who finish from 17. 24. place. These teams will play both away and at home to decide who advances. The end game from here on will work as normal. If this was difficult to understand, you can try to check out Uefa’s own explanation of the new format. Out of a total of eight matches, four are played at home and four away. When the eight games have been played, the series is over. The teams from 1st to 8th place go directly to the round of 16. The teams from 9th-24th place meet each other in a playoff for the finals. The teams from 25th to 36th place are eliminated from the tournament. It will then be a pure play-off before two teams are left in the final. These teams are ready for the Europa League Roma (Italy), Manchester United (England), Porto (Portugal), Rangers (Scotland), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Lazio (Italy), Tottenham (England), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Real Sociedad (Spain), AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), Olympiakos (Greece), Lyon (France), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Qarabag (Azerbaijan), Galatasaray (Turkey), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), Dinamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Midtjylland (Denmark), Malmö (Sweden), Athletic Bilbao (Spain), Hoffenheim (Germany), Nice (France), Twente (Netherlands). On Thursday evening at 9 p.m., the final qualifying matches for the tournament kick off, including Molde’s match against Elfsborg. A whole year of European Cup games also means that Glimt has to settle for playing matches all year round. Because while the domestic Elite Series is played in the spring/autumn (from 31 March to 1 December), the series in the Europa League stretches from 25 September to 30 January. – Of course it will be tough for a Norwegian team that is used to having a longer break around Christmas. But we were aware of that when we qualified for Europe, says Patrick Berg to news after the match in Belgrade. – Are the players being exploited? – Well, we are starting to approach a threshold in terms of what is possible. Especially for national team players, it will be very tight and little free. Then we will see in the years to come whether we as humans are able to handle it. Midfield general Patrick Berg in action away to Røde Stjerne on Wednesday evening. Photo: Nikola Krstic / NTB Football expert in Avisa Nordland and former Glimt player Trond Olsen is excited to see how Glimt handles two season warm-ups this winter. – What’s new is that you get a short break from mid-December to the beginning of January before you have to run up again for the last two games, he says and continues: – I’m excited about how it affects Glimt in terms of next year’s season with two runs. And if they progress to the playoffs, the season will be further stretched. I think it might be a bit tough for next year. On these dates, Glimt will play in Europe. Glimt is guaranteed eight games in the series in the Europa League. These are played on the following dates: Match day 1: 25/26. September 2024 Match day 2: 3 October 2024 Match day 3: 24 October 2024 Match day 4: 7 November 2024 Match day 5: 28 November 2024 Match day 6: 12 December 2024 Match day 7: 23 January 2025 Match day 8: 30 January 2025 Broad squad gives optimism – So unfortunately we play spring/autumn in Norway, while most others in Europe play autumn/spring. We don’t get to do much with that. With the climate we have, it is not so favorable to play games in February. Trond Olsen has 250 games for Bodø/Glimt over two periods, and is on the books with 66 goals. Photo: Niklas Aune Johnsen / news But Olsen believes that Glimt has gradually gained good experience in competing both in the domestic series while at the same time showing off in Europe. Then it helps to have a large and broad squad, which Glimt has gradually acquired. – Glimt needs width in the squad, and a couple of months ago you were completely on your toes. Now the squad has become very good, and means that you can bring in good players. That the squad is large and broad, that is very important. Millions of income also in the Europa League Despite the fact that there is clearly the most money for the clubs to collect in the Champions League, there is not exactly small money to be collected in the Europa League. Only participation means that Bodø/Glimt is guaranteed a minimum of NOK 128 million. In addition, they will receive money based on performance. This much money awaits in the Europa League Parachute from the Champions League qualification: 50 million. Participation in the league game: 48.4 million. TV rights money: Bodø/Glimt: 28.7-52.1 million. Molde: 31.3-54.8 million. Victory in the league game: 5.3 million Draw in the league game: 1.8 million Payment for league position: At least NOK 876,000 Source: NTB Published 29/08/2024, at 09.52 Updated 29.08.2024, at 10.15
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Bodø/Glimt can face Manchester United or Tottenham in a brand new tournament format – news Nordland
