I have been watching football since 2000 and was hoping some of the more experienced fans could help me out a bit. I've been working diligently to understand all of the various rules in football and now have the offside rule figured out (well, as much as anyone can). However, I have a quick question, and will use the Chelsea/Bayern Munich game to illustrate my question. What exactly does winning on aggregate mean? For example, Chelsea lost the Bayern Munich game today, but they won 6-5 on aggregate. What does aggregate mean, and what do the numbers (6-5) represent? Any help would be much appreciated, and would help an American footie fan better enjoy and understand her favourite sport.
In the knock-out stages of the European competitions, each team gets to play their opponents at home.Hence there are 2 games. This is called a 'tie', each game is called a 'leg'. The combined scores of both games are added together giving the aggregate.
well Chelsea won their home game 4:2 and now lost the away game 2:3. 4 + 2 = 6 Chealsea goals vs. 2 + 3 = 5 Bayern goals
There is also an away goal rule. Lets imagine that today's Chelsea game ended 3-1 in favor of Bayern. Chelsea would have had 4+1=5 Bayern would have had 2+3=5 So the aggregate is equal, but since bayern had more away goals, they would have advanced. It would have been the same case with a 2-0 scoreline. 4-2 today would have resulted in an overtime.
Thanks very much. So winning on aggregate only happens when there are 2 legs of a competition? I appreciate the swift response, it makes my footie life a lot easier.
winning on aggregate happens in the Champions League qualifying. Then there are group league play with four teams in each group and no aggregate. Then the cup beginns, or the play off if you like, with aggregate. From the last 16 to the semifinales there are aggregate, but of course not in the finale which is only one game at a neutral ground. In domestic leagues there are no aggregate, but some domestic cups have got it like the Italian cup. The english FA cup has not. The cups are independent competition and is not played as a playoff after the leagues, like in the NFL or NHL.
If you say "tie", it can be confused with a "tied score"... in America, at least. To the American fan, I would say it's like a 2-game playoff series, except that the series is decided on goals scored instead of games won. When you watch the world series in baseball, they show who is winning the series, like "Red Sox lead series 3-1 (3 games to 1)". In soccer, the team with the most goals over the 2 games wins the playoff. Today Chelsea won the "series" 6-5. That's the aggregate score. 6 goals to 5. AC Milan, on the other hand, won their playoff 3-0 on aggregate. Then, there is the "team with the most away goals" rule for tie-breaking in case the playoff ends tied.
Thanks for the attempts to translate into American. Unfortunately, I'm an American who knows next to nothing (by some standards, literally nothing) about American sports. So let me see if I get this straight (feel free to correct me). Aggregate happens in the Champions League (and UEFA Cup) after the group stages. There are two legs in each section of the competiition (i.e. Quarter- Semi finals), to allow each team to play at home. The winner of each leg is decided by number of goals (therefore a team can win one and lose the other, but still move on to the next stage, as in the case of Chelsea). If each team scores the same number of goals, the winner is decided on which team has scored the most away goals. Thanks again to everyone. I'm new to Champions League football, so I'm always missing some of the details.
Why do most Americans who are "getting into football" automatically support English clubs? I mean English clubs are great, but so are German, Italian, Spanish clubs etc... (well, except real madrid and barcelona, which many Americans support as well). Also, why don't Americans support their own clubs more, I went to Salt Lake City and didnt find many Real Salt Lake fans!?!
Yer almost there Qualifications are also done on aggregate. Silly me. Here, mull about this site, it'll explain just about everything you can think of to ask. http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/ ...or just confuse the hell out of you
Americans tend to support English clubs for a very simple reason: the main channel here that plays soccer is Fox Soccer Channel and at least half of the games braodcast there are Premiership games, not to mention most of the sports news provided is through Sky Sports News. FSC has a bit of an English bias, I guess. Not that I am really complaining. I did originally get attracted to football whilst in Mexico a few years ago, where I stayed in the same hotel as one of Mexico's youth teams. My Spanish just wasn't good enough to stick to it, so I checked out FSC (which was then Fox Sports World) where I caught a Liverpool/Everton derby, and Liverpool had me hooked. I don't support US clubs for a number of reasons, and I believe other fans probably have similar stories: 1) it's not the first football I saw, so I had already developed my alligiance before I saw any US team play 2) Until recently, you could rarely find a US game on TV 3) The pace, for me at least, is too slow and the quality of play is just different than I enjoy watching 4)my original attraction to football was due to my travels to Latin America, where I fell in love with the cultural/political implications of the game. The US game does not have the socio-political ties to football like other nations, which makes it less interesting for me.
Thanks for all your help Clanblue, and thanks for the link. I'm a little nervous about the fact that the first sentence on the site mentions coefficients . . . but I shall mull about. : o )
I think some of it has to do with that alot of us have English ancestry. Also, as mentioned before, Fox Soccer Channel carries mostly EPL games. I also support Kansas City Wizards since they're my local club, and the US national team for love of country just as most other people support their national sides.
Nothing wrong with Americans supporting English teams rather then American. Many Basketball fans in the UK support and watch NBA teams more then UK teams.
Good point. Although I'm not sure the analogy US Soccer: UK Soccer as UK Basketball: US Basketball particularly holds up with regards to the quality of play.
Not sure where to post this, but I had to share this with fellow "real" football fans. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/documents/footballsoccer.pdf