EKL: How are the Czech teams’ opponents doing? Should we worry about the coefficient?

We don’t have a simple answer for you. Most Czech journalists see the draw for both Sparta and Slavia as a minor miracle and basically an easy task. Certainly Fenerbahce and Partizan are among the more playable, but it won’t be a walk in the park.

The Conference Europa League is not only about who is the “best” Czech team, but also about the future of Czech football. It is already a well-known fact that Czech professional football is grossly undervalued in terms of financial income from media rights.

The Czech professional clubs, of which there are 32 in total, divide just CZK 150 million between them annually. Most comparable leagues have these revenues several times higher, so it is easy to deduce that Czech clubs are dependent on playing in Europe or selling players.

In the table of club coefficients, the Czech Republic is now in 19th place. Ahead of us are both the Turks (15th-16th) and the Serbs (12th). Anyway, the crucial 15th place is still within striking distance, we are only 0.300 points behind the Greeks/Turks who are now 15th. The advancement of the Sešiovans is in the interest of the whole Czech football.

In addition, some fans have become accustomed to relative success and therefore opponents like Fenerbahce or Partizan may seem easily viable for them. However, Istanbul fans live football and will do their best for the success of their team.

Just for comparison, 8.6 million fans follow Susi’s rivals on Twitter, while 51,000 follow Slavia on the same social network.

On the other hand, it must be said that Fenerbahce is not exactly shining in the league. In their last match they lost 0-1 to Başakşehir. Here are the detailed stats and the passmap. The key man for Fenerbahce seems to be Jose Sosa.

A look at Partizan Belgrade

Partizan crushed Georgian champions Dinamo Batumi 3-1 in their last preliminary match and before that lost to Russian Dynamo Moscow 1-2. The Moscow side are currently second in the Russian Premier League and are just two points behind first-placed Zenit.

The Belgrade club is making a marked strengthening at the defensive midfielder position. During the transfer period, it has already brought in two experienced players (Marko Jevtovic and Ljubomir Fejsa).

Partizan leads the Serbian Super Lig ahead of rival Crvena Zvezda, who managed to advance in the Europa League from the first place of the difficult Group F. So underestimating the opponent is definitely not out of place.

Sources: Livesport, FK Partizan, Fenerbahçe SK, 11tegen11_plots, football-coefficient