UEFA Leagues: They're off!

The Champions and Europa Leagues are to kick off in September. How are the teams faring, now that the national championships have begun?

UEFA Leagues: They're off!. 58727.jpeg

UEFA National Championships

Prem'er Liga - Russia - After 5 games

Spartak Moskva leads with 13 points, followed by CSKA (11), both teams unbeaten, while Terek Grozny is in third. Spartak won away at Anji 2-0, while CSKA came away from Tomsk 1-0 winners. Terek received and beat Rostov 2-1.

La Liga - Spain - After 2 games

Three totallists after two games in La Liga - UD Las Palmas with nine goals scored and three against: FC Barcelona (7-2), Suarez on three and Messi on two and Real Madrid (5-1) with Cristiano Ronaldo yet to get on the score sheet.

Premier League - England - After 3 games

Three totallists with 9 points from the first three games - both Manchester teams (City, where Aguero has three goals and United, where Ibrahimovic has also scored three goals) and Chelsea FC.

Bundesliga - Germany - After 1 game

The first game of the season took place this weekend in the Bundesliga, pride of place going to Bayern's 6-0 thrashing of Bremen, with a hat-trick by Lewandowsky.

Serie A - Italy - After 2 games

Genoa CFC tops the list of four teams with maximum points from the first two games, followed by Juventus, UC Sampdoria and US Sassuolo Calcio.

Ligue 1 - France - After 3 games

No totallists in France, but three teams share top spot after three games, namely EA Guingamp, AS Monaco FC and OGC Nice. Monaco imposed the first defeat of the season on PSG (3-1).

Primeira Liga - Portugal

The first of the six games between Portugal's Big Three (FC Porto from the city of Oporto in the north, and Lisbon's two giants Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Club de Portugal. Sporting is in top position after receiving and beating FC Porto in Lisbon 2-1 and has 9 points from 3 games. Second is SL Benfica with 7, having been held last week by one of the two Vitórias, in this case third-placed Vitória FC (Setúbal), also on 7. Fourth is SC Brage (7), followed in fifth by the other Vitória, Vitória SC from the city of Guimarães (6), the same as sixth-placed FC Porto.

In Turkey, Galatasaray AS has 6 points from two games; in the Netherlands, Feyenoord has 12 points from the first 4 games; in Romania, FC Steaua Bucureşti is first with 13 points from 5 games.

Champions League 2016-2017

The Groups, the schedules, the results and the scorers from the beginning to the end of the season.

The Groups

Group A Arsenal FC (England)   FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland)   Paris Saint-Germain (France)   PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)

Group B Besiktas JK (Turkey)   FC Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)   SL Benfica (Portugal)   SSC Napoli (Italy)

Group C Celtic FC (Scotland)   FC Barcelona (Spain)   Manchester City FC (England)   VfLBorussia Moenchengladbach (Germany)

Group D Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain)   FC Bayern München (Germany)   FC Rostov (Russia)   PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)

Group E AS Monaco FC (France)   Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany)   PFC CSKA Moskva (Russia)   Tottenham Hotspur FC (England)

Group F Borussia Dortmund (Germany)   Legia Warszawa (Poland)   Real Madrid CF (Spain)   Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal)

Group G Club Brugge KV (Belgium)   FC Kobenhavn (Denmark)   FC Porto (Portugal)   Leicester City FC (England)

Group H GNK Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)   Juventus (Italy)   Olympique Lyonnais (France) Sevilla FC (Spain)

Total: 32 clubs

4 clubs competing: England, Germany, Spain

3 clubs: France, Portugal

2 clubs: Italy, Russia

1 club: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

The schedule

Group Phase

Matchday 1 September 13/14

Matchday 2 September 27/28

Matchday 3 October 18/19

Matchday 4 November 1/2

Matchday 5 November 22/23

Matchday 6 December 6/7

Round of 16

First Legs February 14/15  21/22

Second Legs March 7/8  14/15

Quarter-finals

First Legs April 11/12

Second Legs 18/19

Semi-Finals

First Legs May 2/3

Second Legs May 9/10

Final June 3

The venue for this year's final is Cardiff, Wales, UK - at Cardiff's National Stadium

Europa League 2016-2017

The groups, the matches, the standings and the schedules.

The groups

Group A FC Zorya Luhansk (Ukraine)   Fenerbahçe SK (Turkey)   Feyenoord (Netherlands)   Manchester United FC (England)

Group B APOEL FC (Cyprus)   BSC Young Boys (Switzerland)   FC Astana (Kazakhstan)   Olympiacos FC (Greece)

Group C FSV Mainz 05 (Germany)   AS Saint-Étienne (France)   Qäbälä FK (Azerbaijan)   RSC Anderlecht (Belgium)

Group D AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)   Dundalk FC (Republic of Ireland)   FC Zenit (Russia)   Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (Israel)

Group E AS Roma (Italy)  FC Astra Giurgiu (Romania)   FC Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)   FK Austria Wien (Austria)

Group F Athletic Club (Spain)   KRC Genk (Belgium)   SK Rapid Wien (Austria)   US Sassuolo Calcio (Italy)

Group G AFC Ajax (Netherlands)   Panathinaikos FC (Greece)   R. Standard de Liège (Belgium)   RC Celta de Vigo (Spain)

Group H FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)   KAA Gent (Belgium)   Konyaspor (Turkey)   SC Braga (Portugal)

Group I FC Krasnodar (Russia)   FC Salzburg (Austria)   FC Schalke 04 (Germany) OGC Nice (France)

Group J ACF Fiorentina (Italy)   FC Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)   PAOK FC (Greece)   Qarabag FK (Azerbaijan)

Group K AC Sparta Praha (Czech Republic)   FC Internazionale Milano (Italy)   Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (Israel)   Southampton FC (England)

Group L FC Steaua Bucureşti (Romania)   FC Zürich (Switzerland)   Osmanlispor (Turkey)   Villarreal CF (Spain)

The schedule

Group phase

Matchday 1 September 15

Matchday 2 September 29

Matchday 3 October 20

Matchday 4 November 3

Matchday 5 November 24

Matchday 6 December 8

Round of 32

First Legs February 16 Second Legs February 23

Round of 16

First Legs March 9 Second Legs March 16

Quarter-Finals

First Legs April 13 Second Legs April 20

Semi-Finals

First Legs May 4 Second Legs May 11

Final May 24

This year's Europa League Final will be held at the Friends Arena, Solna in Sweden

See also 2015-2016 Champions League Competition

https://english.pravda.ru/news/society/134330-spanish_champions/

See also 2015-2016 Europa League Competition, won by Sevilla FC

https://english.pravda.ru/news/society/134346-europa_league/

See also the entire history of the Euro UEFA 2016 competition, won by Portugal 1-0 in the final

https://english.pravda.ru/news/society/134955-france_portugal/

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

Sports Editor

timothy.hinchey@gmail.com

Twitter: TimothyBHinchey

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey specialized in long distance running as a teenager and in 1974, at 16 years of age, achieved a time of 13.30.01 in the five thousand meters and a year later, a time of 28.00.21 in the ten thousand meters in regional competitions, however he chose not to enter competitive sport and preferred to play football (Soccer), handball, tennis, judo, Krav Maga, table tennis and badminton in his free time. Today at 58 years of age, he continues to play the same sports as a participant and maintains an active interest in all modalities as a spectator and commentator, beginning and ending each day with a routine of TaiJi.