Intertoto Cup

The Intertoto Cup place allotment has been released. Austria is 15th and Switzerland is 16th. That means both clubs which come from the two countries will play in the first round. For those unfaniliar with the cup, it is a summer tournament with 61 teams. In the end, 3 will qualify for the UEFA Cup the following year. Nations get one or two spots depending on the size of their league. I am not sure where Austria and Switzerland will fall. The draw is Monday, 7 April 2003in Nyon. A nice payday follows with 34,000 Euros per round per team. This does not include gate profits, or concessions.
Link:http://www.uefa.com/competitions/IntertotoCup/news/Kind=1/newsId=49920.html

 

Due to their terrible domestic form, FC Barcelona has applied for the Inter toto cup. This is to give them a chance to play in a UEFA competition. They could still avoid the Intertoto cup if they were to win the CL, which is possible.

Conversly, all English teams have said no thank you to the Intertoto cup. Newcastle was the only one who expressed interest, but with their positioning, they should qualify for a UEFA spot.

 

The draw is complete: here is where the Swiss teams will be placed.

The second Swiss team will play in the first around against a team from Latvia. The legs are
First leg: 21/22 June
Second leg: 28/29 June

The second round will see the following:
Swiss #1 vs winner of Czech #3 and Armenia
If Swiss #2 wins they will play Holland #2

The Third round would shape up as follows:
Swiss #1 vs France #1
Swiss #2 vs France #2


Austria only has one team:
AUT vs Georgia

 

Computers are wonderful things:
Here are the possible opponets for Swiss #2:
Latvian First Division
1 Ventspils 2 2 0 0 11 0 6
2 Dinaburg 2 1 1 0 7 1 4
3 Skonto 2 1 1 0 5 0 4

It appears that Latvia plays a fall/spring league. There are 8 teams in the First Division, and I imagine that a home and home is played, making 14 games. I think that one UEFA Spot is available, but I am not positive. With absolutly no knowledge of Latvian Football. I think that Ventspils will get the UEFA Cup spot, and Skonto the Intertoto spot.

Armenian Premier League
1 MIKA 2 2 0 0 5 1 6
2 Kotayk 2 2 0 0 3 0 6
3 Pyunik 2 1 1 0 2 0 4
4 Lernagorts 2 1 0 1 4 2 3
5 Shirak 2 1 0 1 1 2 3
6 Banants 2 0 1 1 0 2 1
7 Dinamo 2 0 0 2 0 2 0
8 Araks 2 0 0 2 1 7 0

I think again that Armenia only has one UEFA Cup spot. Swiss #1 would play an Armenian team if they beat Czech #3. I have no idea, who it could be.

Czech First Division
Pos. Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
1 Sparta 24 17 4 3 42 12 55
2 Slavia 24 14 8 2 51 18 50
3 Liberec 24 13 3 8 37 32 42
4 Viktoria Zizkov 24 12 5 7 32 27 41
5 Teplice 24 11 5 8 27 26 38
6 Baník 24 11 4 9 34 27 37
7 Synot 24 9 5 10 29 32 32
8 Príbram 24 8 7 9 30 27 31

If I remember correctly, Czech has one CL spot and one or two UEFA spots. With Armenia playing Czech #3, that could work out to be anyone besides the top top teams. Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague are much better than the rest of the league. I have no clue who will be the Intertoto opponets.

Dutch First Division
1 PSV 28 23 4 1 69 14 73
2 Ajax 28 20 5 3 73 27 65
3 Feyenoord 28 20 4 4 77 34 64
4 Waalwijk 28 13 4 11 37 37 43
5 NEC 28 12 7 9 36 36 43
6 Utrecht 28 10 10 8 39 36 40
7 Roda 28 11 7 10 45 43 40
8 Willem II 28 10 8 10 41 36 38
9 Alkmaar 28 10 7 11 40 56 37
10 NAC 27 8 12 7 28 25 36

The top two go to the CL, the third through fifth(?) get UEFA spots. That still leaves a pretty good Dutch team at the second Intertoto spot.

French Ligue 1

Pos. Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
1 Monaco 34 17 10 7 55 27 61
2 Lyon 34 17 10 7 56 36 61
3 Marseille 34 17 8 9 35 29 59
4 Bordeaux 34 16 9 9 52 34 57
5 Sochaux 34 14 12 8 37 28 54
6 Auxerre 34 15 9 10 33 28 54
7 Nice 34 13 14 7 37 26 53
8 Nantes 34 15 8 11 36 32 53
9 PSG 34 13 11 10 45 32 50
10 Guingamp 34 15 5 14 47 44 50
11 Lens 34 11 15 8 37 29 48

I think three go to the CL, three in the UEFA Cup. With the middle of the table Le Championat being so close this year, it is really hard to predict who will be around.

That being said, I think that the two probable representatives, Servette and FC Zurich have an oppourtunity to do well in this tournament. The draw was very friendly to the Swiss sides. No Italian, German, or Spanish sides in the first three rounds.

 

Quick Swiss History in Intertoto Cup

1995:
There were group matches and two LNA teams participated:
Karlsruhe 4 10
Wednesday 4 7
Basel 4 6
AGF 4 6
Górnik 4 0

Aarau 4 8
Germinal Beerschot 4 8
Tromsø 4 7
HB 4 2
Cluj 4 1

In the eighth-final Aarau Karlsruhe 1-2 .
FC Triol actually won in the quarter-finals that year and qualfied to play in the UEFA Cup with a 7-5 aggegreate victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

1996:

Segesta 4 3 1 0 7 3 10
Örgryte 4 2 2 0 8 2 8
Luzern 4 2 0 2 4 5 6
Rennes 4 1 1 2 5 5 4
H. Tel-Aviv 4 0 0 4 1 10 0

Rotor 4 3 0 1 12 5 9
Basel 4 2 1 1 14 7 7
Antalyaspor 4 2 0 2 7 7 6
Shakhtar 4 1 1 2 5 8 4
Ataka 4 1 0 3 2 13 3

Both Luzern and Basel eliminated in group stages.

1997:

Auxerre 4 3 1 0 19 2 10
Lausanne 4 2 2 0 13 4 8
Antwerp 4 2 1 1 7 7 7
Nea Salamis 4 1 0 3 6 19 3
Ards 4 0 0 4 1 14 0

Köln 4 3 1 0 9 2 10
M. Petach-Tikva 4 1 2 1 2 3 5
Standard 4 0 4 0 1 1 4
Cork 4 0 3 1 0 2 3
Aarau 4 0 2 2 0 4 2

Both Aarau and Lausanne were eliminated in group stages.

1998:
Change from group stage to knockout.

1st round:
St Gallen-Tulevik 3-2 6-1 9-3
TPS-Sion 0-1 3-2 3-3

Sion Eliminated, St. Gallen advances.

2nd Round:

Salzburg-St Gallen 3-1 0-1 3-2

St. Gallen eliminated by their neighbors to the east.

1999:
1st round:
Shelbourne-Xamax 0-0 0-2 0-2
Korotan-Basel 0-0 0-6 0-6

Both advance

2nd round:
Xamax-Vasas 0-2 0-1 0-3
Basel-Brno 0-0 4-2 4-2
Basel advances, Xamax out.

3rd Round:
Hamburg-Basel 0-1 3-2 3-3
Basel out.

2000:
1st round:
Leiftur-Luzern 2-2 4-4 6-6
MyPa-Xamax 1-2 3-3 4-5

Luzern out, Xamax goes on.

2nd round:
Xamax-Stuttgart 1-6 1-4 2-10

Xamax out.

2001:
First Round:
Sant Julià-Lausanne 1-3 0-6 1-9

2nd Round:
Basel Grindavík 3-0 2-0 5-0
Sturm Lausanne 0-1 3-3 3-4
Both advance

3rd Round:
Publikum Lausanne 1-1 0-0 1-1
Basel Heerenveen 2-1 3-2 5-3
Both advance

4th Round:
Basel Lausanne 3-0 2-2 5-2
Basel advances.

Finals:
Basel Villa 1-1 1-4 2-5
Basel out, but best showing by Swiss side.

 

Thanks for the clarification. As I mentioned I don't know lots about Latvian league, except that their national team is playing pretty well right now. The Czech league knowledge is limited to the top two teams. Armenia I don't know either. Of course this is all speculation, which is why Bigsoccer.com is around.

 

Servette has announced that they will not play in the Intertoto Cup if they do not qualify for the UEFA Cup. Henri Gillet the sports director, " Mr. Morinini does not want to play in this competition." The Geneva team will hold their traditional training camp from 19 to 25 June at Crans-Montana.

I guess that it looks like FC Zurich, FC Wil and FC Thun will be paying for the spot. I don't think that Servette will catch YB, so it looks like no European spot for Servette.

 

The quote was from a recent paper, but I wondered the same thing as you. Mabye Morinini is somehwere in the front office, or there is another one by that name. I was hopeing to see Servette in the competition. Looks like that wont happen.

 

There is an announcemnt on the SFC.ch website saying that they will not participate in the Intertoto Cup. Aside from their preperations at Crans-Montana, they are scheduling friendlies agains Olympique de Marseilles 2.July in Albertville and Auxerre 5.July in Divonne. So instead of playing european competition, Servette has chosen to play what will most likley by partially full team in location other than Geneva. Very interesting move by SFC. A good run in the Intertoto could have helped their financial situiation, I do not see how these two games, aside from having almost no travel expenses will help the budget.

 

I know that, sorry I was venting a little bit. Servette had raised my hopes for an UEFA Cup spot, or at least a run at one. But the last two weeks have dampened my enthuasium.