From: S947607@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU (Pavel Nikiforovitch)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: European Cups standings so far (as on September 9)
Date: 9 Sep 92 23:18:59 GMT



 This is the table which illusrates European Cups 1992/93 standing so
 far (as on September 4)

=========================================================================
      |                   |         T E A M S         |
      |                   |                           | cur-     expec-
PLACE |     COUNTRY       |     started         now   | rent      ted
=========================================================================
  1     LATVIA                  1+0+0=1       1+0+0=1   4.000    8.875
  2     ISRAEL                  1+1+0=2       1+1+0=2   4.000    8.563
  3     UKRAINE                 1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   2.333    6.760
  4     SLOVENIA                1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   2.000    6.427
  5     LUXEMBORG               1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   1.000    5.427
  6     LITHUANIA               1+0+0=1       1+0+0=1   0.000    4.875
  7     FINLAND                 1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   0.000    4.427
  7     ICELAND                 1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   0.000    4.427
  7     NORTHERN IRELAND        1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   0.000    4.427
  7     HUNGARY                 1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   0.000    4.427
  7     CYPRUS                  1+1+1=3       1+1+1=3   0.000    4.427
 12     BULGARIA                1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     CZECHO-SLOVAKIA         1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     DENMARK                 1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     ENGLAND                 1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     GREECE                  1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     POLAND                  1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     RUSSIA                  1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     SWEDEN                  1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     SWITZERLAND             1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 12     TURKEY                  1+1+2=4       1+1+2=4   0.000    4.359
 22     BELGIUM                 1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     FRANCE                  1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     HOLLAND                 1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     AUSTRIA                 1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     PORTUGAL                1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     ROMANIA                 1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 22     SCOTLAND                1+1+3=5       1+1+3=5   0.000    4.319
 29     ITALY                   1+1+4=6       1+1+4=6   0.000    4.292
 29     GERMANY                 1+1+4=6       1+1+4=6   0.000    4.292
 29     SPAIN                   1+1+4=6       1+1+4=6   0.000    4.292
 32     WALES                   0+1+0=1       0+1+0=1   0.000    4.250
 33     IRELAND                 1+1+1=3       0+1+1=2   0.333    3.135
 34     NORWAY                  1+1+1=3       1+0+1=2   0.000    3.010
 35     MALTA                   1+1+1=3       0+0+1=1   0.667    2.052
 36     FAROE ISLANDS           1+1+0=2       -------   0.500    0.500
 37     ESTONIA                 1+0+0=1       -------   0.000    0.000
 38     LIECHTENSTEIN           0+1+0=1       -------   0.000    0.000
=========================================================================

 Some explanations:
 ------------------
 1.) "a+b+c=d" means "a teams in Champion's Cup, b teams in Cup Winner's
     Cup, c teams in UEFA Cup, and d (a+b+c) teams overall."
 2.) "-------" means "0+0+0=0".
 3.) I assume everyone knows that every team gets 2 points for win, 1
     point for draw, and 1 point for qualifying to quarterfinals/semifi-
     nals/finals. (By the way, there will be no semifinals in Champion's
     Cup, because of new formula.) Then the whole bunch of points got
     by all teams of the country is divided on the number of teams of
     this country, started in the EuroCups.
 4.) How do I count the "expected points per team" ? Well, there are 156
     remaining points in Champion's Cup which will be divided among 32
     remaining teams (4.875 per team), 136 remaining points in Cup Win-
     ner's Cup which will be divided among 32 remaining teams (4.250 per
     team), and 266 remaining points in UEFA Cup which will be divided
     among 64 remaining teams (4.15625 per team). Sure, those points will
     not be divided equally, but for expectation we should assume they
     will. So, the more current points per team you have, the more teams
     of your country remain in EuroCups, and the less teams started in
     EuroCups -- the more "expected points" you deserve.
       For example, Malta started will 3 teams this season. Italy now
     has 0.667 points per team. There is 1 (0+0+1) remaining Maltese
     team in EuroCups so far. So, according to fair expectation, it'll
     get 4.15625 more points. 4.15625 / 3 = 1.385.
     0.667 + 1.385 = 2.052 "expected points per team".
       If I posted just "current points per team", it wouldn't be fair
     table.

Now some conclusions:
---------------------
1.) The preliminary round was very succesful for Israel, Slovenia, Lat-
    via, Ukraine and Luxembourg, who lost no teams.
2.) According to the table above, the current "Big Five" of Europe are
    Latvia, Israel, Ukraine, Slovenia and Luxembourg. Wow !

    Well, that's all so far. Please feel free to add your comments and
    objections. Please don't ask me what the meaning of all this is.
    There is no meaning, all written above has been written just for fun.

    After September 16 I'll update
    all this stuff.