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Ireland are screwed again. Instead of seeding teams by their finish in the group ( we finished second, so we would be seeded in the second pot) UEFA have introduced a co-efficient system. http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/...0_DOWNLOAD.pdf
The above link places Ireland as the 25th best team in Europe, behind inferior teams such as Israel, Finland, Norway and many others. As I have said the normal process of seeding puts teams into pots depending on where they finished in their last qualifying campaign.
The above link places Ireland as the 25th best team in Europe, behind inferior teams such as Israel, Finland, Norway and many others. As I have said the normal process of seeding puts teams into pots depending on where they finished in their last qualifying campaign.
Ireland's group should have been seeded as following.
Number 1 seeds- Italy
Number 2 seeds- Republic of Ireland
Number 3 seeds- Bulgaria
Number 4 seeds- Cyprus
Number 5 seeds- Montenegro
Number 6 seeds- Georgia
All the group winners would have followed Italy into the top seeded position. All the group runner ups would have been seeded second, including Ireland. In the new methodology Ireland are the 25th ranked team. Providing there is 8 groups and 8 teams per seeded pot this would place Ireland into pot 4. Bulgaria who finished behind Ireland in the group would be in pot 3.
This new system will make it harder for Ireland to qualify for the European championships. Despite being screwed last night with a horrible decision that led to a French victory Michel Platini and his UEFA cohorts have decided to screw Ireland even more.
The motto of FIFA/UEFA is fair play. What utter lies. It should be changed to money above all. That is why smaller nations are screwed time and time again in favour of bigger nations who pay more for TV rights and provide greater advertising revenue.
The beautiful game is dead as long as injustice like this continues.
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