NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Teams from former Iron Curtain countries are making their strongest challenge yet to win the Conference League, the competition designed to give them more chances to progress on and off the field.
The 24-team knockout phase has 10 from eastern Europe — the most in the continent's third-tier club competition since it was launched five years ago — and nine were in the knockout playoffs draw Friday.
Crystal Palace and Fiorentina face trips east in the playoffs after both preseason favorites found the opening phase tough, and failed to earn a top-eight placing last month that earned entry direct to the round of 16.
Palace is away in the first leg against Bosnian champion Zrinjski Mostar while Fiorentina — a two-time beaten finalist — will go to Poland to face Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Kosovo is represented in a knockout phase for the first time in its nine seasons playing in UEFA club competitions: Drita is at home first against Celje of Slovenia.
North Macedonia’s Shkendija was paired with Samsunspor of Turkey, and Armenian champion Noah will first host AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.
“It is exactly what the Conference League was designed for,” UEFA's director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti told The Associated Press. “We believe these three levels are needed."
First-leg games in the playoffs are played Feb. 19 and the returns are one week later.
Teams already in the round of 16 draw on Feb. 28 will include Strasbourg — whose coach Liam Rosenior left this month to join parent club Chelsea — Shakhtar Donetsk, Rayo Vallecano and Mainz.
Prize money millions
A competition created by UEFA in 2021, in order to give lower-ranked clubs more chances to play into the second half of the season, will share a total prize fund of 285 million euros ($331 million).
“This competition is exactly for the teams like us. We love it,” Drita president Valon Murseli told the AP. His club is using several millions in UEFA prize money to build two soccer fields, one grass and one artificial. “For us, that’s a lot.”
Jagiellonia won the Polish league title in 2024 and is quickly trying to build a club tradition in Europe by learning from the host clubs it visits, like Fiorentina where it will play the second leg on Feb. 26.
“We are trying to be a big club. For everyone it’s a great opportunity,” Jagiellonia spokesman Emil Kaminski told the AP, highlighting the knowledge his team gained from seeing how opponents run their youth academies and commercial operations.
European soccer goes west
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Soccer in the former Iron Curtain countries struggled to keep pace with the richer west after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the Bosman legal ruling in 1995 that upended the transfer market.
The European Court of Justice judgment led to players having freedom to move when their contracts expired without a transfer fee being paid to their club. It accelerated the flow of talent to richer clubs and cut revenue to those left behind.
No team from the east has reached a Champions League or European Cup final since Red Star Belgrade won the title in 1991.
The last team from the east to win any European title was Shakhtar’s Europa League victory in 2009.
The last finalist was Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine, who lost to Unai Emery’s Sevilla for the 2015 Europa League title. Four years later Dnipro folded in bankruptcy.
Creating a third way
UEFA created the Conference League in part to help clubs who were overmatched in the Champions League and Europa League. Now, they can stay involved into February and beyond, and keep earning prize money.
Last season, Legia Warsaw earned almost 11 million euros ($12.8 million) for its Conference League run to the quarterfinals, while Petrocub Hincesti of Moldova received almost 4 million euros ($4.6 million) from the group stage.
The competition’s commitment to eastern Europe is shown by three of the four finals so far being hosted in Albania, the Czech Republic and Poland. The next final on May 27 is in Leipzig, a city that was in the former East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell.
Building blocks
The ideal path to progress in European soccer has been shown by Bodo/Glimt of Norway: A Conference League quarterfinal place in 2022, a Europa League semifinal last season and competing in its first Champions league main phase this season.
“We believe," Marchetti said, “there is much more hidden strength in Europe.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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