The European Winter Season is Underway

The European winter soccer season began yesterday when two Bulgarian sides starting us off with a 2-1 win for Lokomotiv Plovdiv over Etar.

Yes, two small clubs that won't be making head-waves in Europe anytime soon but this is a sign that the EPL is around the corner.

If you have a HDMI cord, check out this website. Almost every soccer game is on there. This site is perfect if you follow a team in a different country than your home country.

All these leagues will have a Champion that will take part in the UEFA Champions League. This tournament is being revamped for the 2018-19 year which doesn't have the small countries feeling very confident that they can have success.

Most of Europe is happy by just playing in the Top tier. There's likely over 1000 European teams and there are only 78 UCL spots. Do the math.

For the start of a new year, it gives teams new hope that something special can materialize over the new year. For me, the most boring thing in soccer is when Barcelona meets Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final.

I'll elaborate on this later but for now, here is how the 55 different leagues go into the new year:

Ranking			Member association (L: League, C: Cup, LC: League cup1)	Coefficient						Teams	Places in 2019–20 season
2018	2017	Mvmt		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	Total		CL	EL	Total
1	1	—	Spain (L, C)	23.000	20.214	23.928	20.142	1.714	88.998	7/7	4[14]	3	7
2	2	—	Germany (L, C)	14.714	15.857	16.428	14.571	1.714	63.284	7/7
3	3	—	England (L, C, LC1)	16.785	13.571	14.250	14.928	2.285	61.819	7/7
4	4	—	Italy (L, C)	14.166	19.000	11.500	14.250	1.333	60.249	6/6
5	5	—	France (L, C, LC1)	8.500	10.916	11.083	14.416	1.333	46.248	6/6	3		6
6	6	—	Russia (L, C)	10.416	9.666	11.500	9.200	0.800	41.582	5/5
7	7	—	Portugal (L, C)	9.916	9.083	10.500	8.083	1.333	38.915	6/6	2		5
8	9	+1	Belgium (L, C)	6.400	9.600	7.400	12.500	0.800	36.700	5/5
9	8	–1	Ukraine (L, C)	7.833	10.000	9.800	5.500	0.800	33.933	5/5
10	10	—	Turkey (L, C)	6.700	6.000	6.600	9.700	0.800	29.800	5/5
11	13	+2	Netherlands (L, C)	5.916	6.083	5.750	9.100	0.900	27.749	5/5
12	11	–1	Czech Republic (L, C)	8.000	3.875	7.300	5.500	0.200	24.875	5/5
13	12	–1	Switzerland (L, C)	7.200	6.900	5.300	4.300	0.800	24.500	5/5
14	15	+1	Austria (L, C)	7.800	4.125	3.800	7.375	0.750	23.850	4/4
15	14	–1	Greece (L, C)	6.100	6.200	5.400	5.800	0.200	23.700	5/5
16	18	+2	Denmark (L, C)	3.800	2.900	5.500	8.500	2.000	22.700	4/4	1		4
17	16	–1	Croatia (L, C)	4.375	6.875	4.500	5.125	1.250	22.125	4/4
18	20	+2	Poland (L, C)	3.125	4.750	5.500	3.875	1.375	18.625	4/4
19	22	+3	Israel (L, C)	5.750	1.375	2.250	6.750	1.750	17.875	4/4
20	17	–3	Romania (L, C)	6.875	5.125	2.250	3.300	0.200	17.750	5/5
21	24	+3	Cyprus (L, C)	2.750	3.300	3.000	5.500	1.875	16.425	4/4
22	26	+4	Azerbaijan (L, C)	2.500	3.625	4.375	4.250	1.625	16.375	4/4
23	19	–4	Belarus (L, C)	1.750	5.500	5.125	3.000	1.000	16.375	3/4
24	21	–3	Sweden (L, C)	3.200	3.900	4.750	2.750	1.625	16.225	4/4
25	27	+2	Bulgaria (L, C)	5.625	4.250	1.000	4.250	1.000	16.125	3/4
26	29	+3	Kazakhstan (L, C)	3.125	3.375	4.625	2.750	1.625	15.500	3/4
27	23	–4	Scotland (L, C)	3.250	4.000	3.000	4.375	0.625	15.250	2/4
28	25	–3	Norway (L, C)	2.600	2.200	7.250	1.375	1.750	15.175	4/4
29	28	–1	Serbia (L, C)	2.500	2.750	4.250	2.875	1.000	13.375	2/4
30	32	+2	Liechtenstein (C2)	1.000	2.500	5.000	2.500	2.000	13.000	1/1	0	1	1
31	31	—	Slovakia (L, C)	1.625	2.750	3.750	2.125	1.375	11.625	4/4	1	3	4
32	30	–2	Slovenia (L, C)	2.625	4.000	1.000	2.250	1.375	11.250	3/4
33	35	+2	Iceland (L, C)	2.500	2.500	1.125	1.000	0.875	8.000	3/4
34	34	—	Moldova (L, C)	3.375	1.750	1.250	0.875	0.625	7.875	2/4
35	33	–2	Hungary (L, C)	0.875	2.125	1.625	1.875	1.125	7.625	3/4
36	38	+2	Republic of Ireland (L, C)	0.250	2.000	0.700	2.625	1.125	6.700	3/4
37	36	–1	Finland (L, C)	0.500	2.400	1.000	1.750	0.875	6.525	3/4
38	39	+1	Bosnia and Herzegovina(L, C)	1.500	1.750	1.500	0.500	1.250	6.500	3/4
39	37	–2	Albania (L, C)	2.000	0.875	2.125	0.875	0.625	6.500	2/4
40	42	+2	Macedonia (L, C)	0.500	1.125	1.500	1.250	1.500	5.875	3/4
41	43	+2	Estonia (L, C)	1.000	1.500	1.000	1.375	0.500	5.375	1/4
42	41	–1	Latvia (L, C)	1.625	0.250	1.625	1.375	0.375	5.250	2/4
43	40	–3	Georgia (L, C)	1.875	1.250	0.625	1.125	0.125	5.000	1/4
44	44	—	Montenegro (L, C)	1.250	0.750	1.000	0.875	1.000	4.875	2/4
45	45	—	Armenia (L, C)	1.125	0.375	1.625	1.125	0.625	4.875	1/4
46	49	+3	Malta (L, C)	0.875	0.125	0.875	1.250	1.375	4.500	2/4
47	48	+1	Lithuania (L, C)	1.250	0.500	0.750	0.500	1.375	4.375	3/4
48	47	–1	Northern Ireland (L, C)	0.875	1.375	0.750	0.500	0.750	4.250	1/4
49	46	–3	Luxembourg (L, C)	1.500	0.500	0.750	0.750	0.625	4.125	3/4
50	50	—	Wales (L, C)	0.750	0.125	1.500	1.000	0.500	3.875	1/4
51	51	—	Faroe Islands (L, C)	0.875	1.375	0.375	0.375	0.750	3.750	1/4
52	52	—	Gibraltar (L3, C)	No entry	0.250	0.750	1.500	0.500	3.000	0/3		2	3
53	53	—	Andorra (L, C)	0.333	0.500	0.166	0.166	0.166	1.331	0/3
54	54	—	San Marino (L, C)	0.333	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.166	0.499	0/3
55	—		Kosovo (L4, C)	Not a UEFA member			No entry	0.000	0.000	0/2		1	2

Back to the Bulgaria game, Bulgaria as a country is ranked 25th out of 55 countries. That means they are a middle of the pack league. Yet, PFK Ludogorets Razgrad, remain one of the Top 32 teams in Europe which is a pretty good achievement. 

However, for a night, Lokomotiv Plovdiv was top of the table as they try to the Champions League for the first time since 2004. 13 years. That is European  soccer for ya.