WORLD FOOTBALL WEDNESDAY #4

SPANISH THIRD TIER - UPDATE 

Málaga, Ponferradina, Ibiza and Lugo were the four teams relegated from La Liga 2 last season. Three have made decent starts to their Primera Federación seasons - Ponferradina have won two and drawn two of their four Group 1 games but have only scored four goals. Lugo, also in Group 1, have only won one of their four games with just two goals scored. Málaga have won three of their four Group 2 games with their only defeat coming against Castellon who currently top the division. Ibiza are the only third tier side left with a 100% winning record with three wins from three. 

It was only just over a decade ago that Málaga finished in fourth place of La Liga (2011/12 season) and subsequently got to the Quarter Finals of the 12/13 UEFA Champions League where they were defeated by Borussia Dortmund 3-2 on aggregate. They had been looking at the semi-finals with the game going into the 90th minute only for Marco Reus and Felipe Santana to score late goals for the German side who at the time were Bundesliga Champions. 

NEXT FIXTURES

Atletico Madrid 'B' v Ibiza - Saturday 23rd September 

Real Sociedad 'B' v Lugo - Saturday 23rd September 

Linares v Málaga - Sunday 24th September 

Ponferradina v Fuenlabrada - Sunday 24th September 

KI SET MAKE FAROESE FOOTBALL HISTORY AND ABERDEEN WITH TOUGH GAME IN GERMANY

Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag or KI Kalksvik as they are more commonly known are set to make history tomorrow evening when they become the first Faroese Football Club to play in a European Football Group game. They travel to Slovakian Champion's Slovan Bratislava in the UEFA Conference League Group A where they will also play Lille and Olimpija Ljubljana.  

To get to this stage they have played Ferencvaros (3-0 aggregate), BK Hacken (3-3 win 4-3 on pens) and Molde (2-3 on aggregate) in the Champions League Qualifying Rounds and the Sherif Tiraspol in the Europa League play-off (2-3 on aggregate). 

Aston Villa and Aberdeen are representing England and Scotland in the competition. Villa go to Legia Warsaw in their first group game with The Dons in Germany with a very tough game in prospect against Eintracht Frankfurt. They have performed well in European Competition in recent times getting to the UEFA Europa League Semi-Final in 18/19, Winning the Europa League in 21/22 and the last 16 of the of the Champions League last season. 

The Scottish side's manager Barry Robson is under some pressure from some of their supporters after their poor start to the Scottish Premiership season which has seen then draw two and lost three of their five games played.  

USL DUNKERQUE BACK IN THE FRENCH SECOND TIER - A LONG TRIP FOR RODEZ AF

USL Deunkerque who have never played higher than Ligue 2 in their history having been formed in 1909 are back in the French Second Tier for the 23/24 season. "Les Maritimes" (The Seasiders) have won one, drawn three and lost two of their games so far - they play Rodez at home on Saturday which is one of the longest away trips of the season for the visitors being a 1180 mile round trip!