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Archive for the ‘UEFA Europa League’ Category

UEFA Europa League
Thursday 3 December
Kick-Off 20:05

Supporters are now able to purchase tickets for our UEFA Europa League home game against CSKA Sofia on Thursday 3rd December (Kick-Off 8:05pm) for just £15 Adults and £10 Juniors each!

Buy your tickets now

How to Buy tickets

• buy tickets online – 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day. Available to Season Ticket Holders & Members only for this game. Save on booking fees by booking online*
• by phone on 0870 442 1234 (option 1) – 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day
• in person from the Ticket Office: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; non-match day Sat 10am-12pm
• by fax 0207 384 4810 (download printable form)
• by postal application to FFC Ticket Office, Stevenage Road, Fulham, SW6 6HH enclosing a stamped addressed envelope (download printable form)
• Seatwave – the official fan-to-fan ticket exchange
• Thomas Cook – match breaks for all Fulham FC home games

* Lower booking fees compared to telephone booking

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Tickets/Games/FulhamvCSKASofia.aspx

FC Basel comfortably beat CSKA Sofia 3-1 and maintained their position at the top of Uefa Europa League group E with nine points, though the Swiss side are yet to secure a place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Alexander Frei scored a brace against the Bulgarian side, as he had done in the first match between both teams in Sofia two weeks earlier. With this latest victory, FC Basel are two points ahead of second placed AS Roma and four from third placed Fulham. CSKA are bottom of the group with one point.

The Bulgarian side showed a spirited display and scored a stunning goal through Todor Yanchev, but it was not enough to spark a revival. At the bottom of the group with only one point from four outings, CSKA’s hopes or further contention in the tournament have all but dissipated.

The Bulgarian league leaders are now facing an equally arduous task as they will have to travel to London and face Fulham at Craven Cottage. Meanwhile, group leaders FC Basel will travel to the Eternal City and take on Roma. Both matches are on December 3 2009.

CSKA Sofia will travel to FC Basel on November 5 in their UEFA Europa League Group E encounter in the hope that they can salvage a result from this tough away clash.

The Sofia Reds are currently bottom of the group with one point, while Basel are top with six, followed by Fulham in second with five and AS Roma in third with four points. The previous match between the Bulgarians and Basel was in Sofia on October 22, which the Reds lost 2-0.

Should CSKA register another defeat in the competition, while, concurrently, Fulham beat Roma away, the Bulgarian side will be out of contention for the further stages of the competition.

CSKA will enter the fray on the back of domestic turmoil, having lost a crunch league encounter on November 2 against Litex Lovech, which also prompted the team’s head coach Lyuboslav Penev to take drastic measures against nine players whom he accused of being responsible for the loss, by partying away the night before the match and breaking curfew.

However, club authorities decided to end the “punishment” of nine players who were reportedly “sacked” three days ago, and said they would be reinstated in the first team after the League Europa clash with Basel.

“We will return all of them, they were just temporarily ousted from the team, but I will have them back,” said club president Dimitar Borissov.

CSKA Sofia and FC Basel had never met in their European history prior to the October 22 encounter in Sofia, which was also Basel’s first ever match Bulgarian opposition, while CSKA’s two previous away trips Switzerland both ended in defeat.

Following this round, the Reds will visit London where they have a date with Fulham while Basel will travel to the Eternal City and take on Roma on December 3 2009.

Kickoff between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia is at 9pm Bulgarian time.

CSKA Sofia bow out to superior FC Basel

Unbeaten in nine home matches in European competitions, CSKA Sofia faced a tough opposition in the form of FC Basel on October 22 2009, and were comfortably outplayed as Alexander Frei scored a brace, one in each half to propel the visitors on top of Group E.

The visitors were menacing on most occasions when they surged forward. The atmosphere at Vassil Levski stadium generated by the red supporters was not going to intimidate them in any way and Basel quickly obtained the initiative on the pitch.

Just 19 minutes into the first half and CSKA Sofia were 1-0 down when Marco Streller allowed a long pass bound for him to reach Frei, who in turn chested the ball and drove it past the advancing Ivan Karadzhov.

CSKA Sofia were then lucky not to concede a second four minutes from time when the Switzerland forward burst through in the penalty area in the 41st minute, beating two defenders, and having done the difficult part of the task, managed to squander it all by shooting wide off the post from several metres.

Second half under way, and the visitors maintained their harassment in style. It was a selfless and desperate defence from substitute Aleksandar Branekov that denied Frei from scoring a second goal on the stroke of the hour mark.

It was apparent, however, that the second goal was only a matter of when and not if, and it did not come too long afterward. Frei rose to meet Carlitos’s cross from the right with a header in the 64^th minute, making it a brace for himself and a comfortable 2-0 away win for his team.

The victory over CSKA left FC Basel with six points in the bag, one more than Fulham and two clear of AS Roma, while CSKA are five adrift. This defeat was the first time CSKA lost a European match at home since the 1-0 defeat inflicted by Hamburger SV in October 2005.

CSKA Sofia’s debut in Europa League, at home against Fulham, ended in a 1-1 draw at the Vassil Levski national stadium on September 17 2009.

The visitors were welcomed by a hostile capacity home crowd which greeted the English supporters with banners reading “English Animals”, a likely reference to the Michael Shields case, but any hostilities inside the ground were only restricted to the occasional verbal assault, and the riot police deployed around the packed home end and the visitors’ section were not needed.

If the passions on the terraces were reaching a boiling point, the same could not be said for the quality of football or its pace in the first half. The hosts started lively and stood better on the battered turf, still recuperating from a Madonna concert nearly three weeks earlier.

The two sides spent most of the time before the break trying to win the battle in the middle of the park, waiting for the other side to blink first. Ivan Stoyanov and Spas Delev were particularly impressive for the hosts, but Fulham held on without too much difficulty.

With difficult trips awaiting CSKA, draws at home are opportunities lost and the Reds started the second half by pushing forward. Delev was menacing in front of the box, while Yordan Todorov constantly harassed Fulham’s keeper David Stockdale with long-range efforts on goal.

As the match was approaching the hour mark, CSKA’s Brazilian substitute Michel Platini collected the ball chested-down by Marquinhos and unleashed a 20-metre volley into the back of Stockdale’s net.

The hosts were 1-0 up and the terraces exploded with noise, but the game was hardly restarted when Fulham equalised in a swift counter-attack. Diomansy Kamara, reported to be unsettled at Craven Cottage, put the hard-battling Fulham side back in the match just when it seemed that it was about to crack under the pressure of the Bulgarian league leaders.

The Senegalese international prowled on to a ball and beat keeper Ivan Karadjov, who had left his box in an attempt to intercept him.

CSKA immediately retaliated and forced David Stockdale into a fine save from a potent Todorov drive, which was parried over the bar.

A point was always going to be a valuable one for Fulham as they made their first appearance in the group stages of a European competition in the club’s history. On the flip side, the hosts could have achieved more, but in the end both teams shared a point in their opening Group E encounter.

Roy Hodgson did not make a single substitution throughout the entire match, which given the fact that he had already fielded the substitute side, was all but expected.

“I think the team certainly justified the selection there tonight. We played against a good team. It doesn’t matter which 11 Fulham players we’d have chosen to put on the field, it would’ve been a tough game for us”, he said for the club’s website.
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“They have started their season brilliantly, they move the ball about very quickly and they’re buoyed by a large and vociferous crowd. I thought we handled the situation brilliantly.”

In the other game in Group E, FC Basel earned an impressive 2-0 victory against Italian side Roma. Basel are temporary group leaders with three points, Fulham and CSKA Sofia with one apiece and Roma at the bottom with none.

Runners-up last season and leading the league so far, CSKA Sofia will start their first Uefa Europa League at home against the tough English side Fulham on September 17 2009. The match will be played at Vassil Levski national stadium and, reportedly, more than 30 000 tickets for the match have already been sold.

Fulham have not had their best start of the season in the Premiership, collecting six points from four league games. Ahead of the CSKA clash, Fulham manager Roy Hodgson is poised to make some drastic changes from the team that defeated Everton 2-1 in the Premier League on September 13

First-team regulars Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora and Brede Hangeland will be rested. Clint Dempsey and Damien Duff are unlikely to play as they are given extra time to recover from their knocks.

“I fully believe the team I put out will be very competitive. Only one player – Stockdale – has not played international football,” Hodgson said, quoted by the BBC. “There is no point signing players like Jonathan Greening, Bjorn Helge Riise, Erik Nevland and Zoltan Gera if you’re not going to use them.”

“We’re not neglecting the European tournament. We’re looking forward to it and think it’s a great adventure, but it’s an adventure for the squad, not just 11,” he said.

CSKA Sofia head coach Lyuboslav Penev is determined to build up on the great start to his first full campaign as manager. CSKA certainly will need to extract the most out of their home encounters in a tough group that also includes Basel and Roma, two sides that played Champions League football last season. Collecting points away will be will be an arduous task, so winning the home games is essential if CSKA are looking to progress.

“We will play to win and hope for a good result. I believe in the team and the ambition of CSKA is to qualify further,” Penev said. Kick-off at Vassil Levski National stadium is at 7.45pm Bulgarian time and the match will be televised live by public broadcaster BNT.