I will be the first one to admit that Europeans have the tendency to be rather rude at times. The upside to this is that you know immediately where you stand with the person.
Heydude signs for St Gallen Hejduk signs for St Gallen (Reuters) Wed 28 Aug, 04:33 PM ZURICH, Switzerland (Reuters) - United States international defender Frankie Hejduk has joined St Gallen on a free transfer from German side Bayer Leverkusen, the Swiss Nationalliga club have said.
Whatever...what an underachiever...how dare he not drag this out like Eddie Lewis and Kirovski...stupid surfer. Now this thread will only have like 5 posts, as opposed to 200.
Interesting how Frankie has adjusted to the whole Euro scene quite well, while "teammate"Landon's resisted it. One could argue that it's apples and oranges: Donovan's got a shot at becoming a very important poster child for US soccer ... if he stays in the States; he could someday become a top flight goal scorer; he's only 20. While Hejduk must have quickly realized that he'd never be more than a bit player at Leverkusen. Once you accept that reality, making a nice salary while occasionally getting to dress and sit on the bench for one of Germany's top clubs ain't such a bad life. Neither is a nice contract, and playing time, in St. Gallen. Anyway, if Melchoir Arnold can get a work permit in Switzerland, I'm sure that Frankie can. By the way, I suspect that Switzerland has fairly strict rules regarding work permits ... for mortals like you and me (I mean, fly to any European country and, as you go through customs, say you're coming to Country X in order to "get a job," but you don't have the correct visa/work permit; you won't get very far). Perhaps there are different rules governing athletes. Why, in fact, a quick Google search found the following: "Two significantly different regimes govern Swiss residence and work permits: - for EC nationals (based on the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the European Community) - for third country nationals Residence and work permits are exclusively issued by the cantons. Permits are subject to quantitative limitations." This goes on to say that EU nationals have pretty much the same rights as Swiss citizens to live and work in Switzerland. For non-EU nationals: "2. Third Country Nationals Work permit applications can only be submitted by the employer who must demonstrate that he can not fill the open position with a worker of the local work force or recruit on the European labor market. The "local worker priority" provision does not apply to intra-company transfers of executives and highly qualified specialists and to executives and highly qualified specialists indispensable for important research projects or other extraordinary assignments." Note where it refers to "highly qualified specialists?" I guess someone who plays in a World Cup would qualify, eh?
I was thinking that as I read it... Also, I believe that Arnold held EU status, though I could be wrong.
If St. Gallen still has further UEFA play ahead of it, if Frankie eligible, or has he joined the team too late?
Way to go Frankie. Hopefully you get plenty of playing time and show everyone how the surfers play! Met Frankie here in Denver after the red card shown against Mexico and he is just too cool for all other humans. And one day we're going surfing.
Deimos--that chick was pretty hot. Thanks. Of course the people are stiff---isn't the majority of Teutonic(german) ascendency?
FCSG has no further Uefa play this year. They played in the UI-Cup earlier this season and lost to Willem II (NED).
At this point I should probably explain the Swiss league format. The current format is so complicated - it will make MLS blush: To start out, National-Liga A (NLA) is the first division, while National-Liga B (NLB) naturally is the second division. The whole season is split up into 2 halves, the qualifying round and the final round. Both, the NLA and NLB start out with 12 teams at the beginning of the season. The qualifying round is over once each team has played the others home and away (22 games.) At this point the top 8 of the NLA have qualified for the final round in spring which will determine the champion. The top eight will again play each other home and away (14 games.) The bottom 4 of the NLA are then mixed with the top 4 of the NLB. These 8 teams will determine who will play in the NLA next season (so technically there could be 4 teams promoted/relegated.) The bottom 8 of the NLB in the meantime will determine who gets relegated to the 1st Amateur division. NLA 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. >> These eight go to the final round 9. 10. 11. 12. >> These four go to the promotion/relegation round. NLB 1. 2. 3. 4. >> These four go to the promotion/relegation round 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. >> These eight go to the relegation round The first half of the season is played until December. The final round, promotion/relegation round, and relegation round are played in Spring after the Winter break. I hope this clears things up a bit. Now that you've learned the current format, I have to tell you that this is the last season with this unique format. Starting next season the NLA will be reduced to 10 teams and the NLB is increased 16 teams. The current season is the bridge to the new format, so this year some things will be different than stated above. In this year's promotion/relegation round, only 2 teams will remain in the NLA next season (because of the team reduction.) There is also no relegation in the NLB this season because the league is increased to 16. Once these changes have been made, the Swiss league will have the usual European format. No split season, no final round, nothing. I hope this helps
! Well, whether it helps or not - I appreciate the info on a fascinating system Are fans pleased to see it go? I would think the system would appeal to some. Thanks, SwissGCZ!
I've been to games in Geneva and Neuchatel, and recall that the stadiums were in the 10 to 12,000 range. They were full, but definitely smaller crowds, obviously, than MLS. I've been told that some Bundesliga and Serie A clubs have arrangements with some Swiss League clubs to develop some of their younger players.
If the NLA is going to have 10 teams next year that means an 18 game season. That seems a little low.