Tag: Europa Conference League

Polvara becomes first American goalscorer in 2023-24 UEFA competition proper

The United States is off the mark in European play

The United States is off the mark in European competition this season.

Christian Pulisic? Ricardo Pepi? One of the many Aaronsons? Nope! It’s uncapped Aberdeen midfielder Dante Polvara, who smashed home a close-range equalizer as the Scottish club began play in the Europa Conference League.

Polvara’s strike briefly brought the Dons level, stunning Eintracht Frankfurt and a raucous crowd at Deutsche Bank Park. The Bundesliga side — with Paxten Aaronson in the starting 11 — would go on to win 2-1.

Polvara finished off a lightning counter as Aberdeen broke out after absorbing plenty of early pressure. Right back Nicky Devlin eventually cut the ball back for Polvara, and the Pleasantville, N.Y. native took a touch before firing into the roof of the net.

Numerous U.S.-born women have scored in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, but Polvara’s goal is the first in any UEFA competition proper this season. The UWCL group stage begins on November 14, with the final round of qualifying coming in October.

Polvara, 23, signed with Aberdeen in January 2022, leaving Georgetown a year early after winning the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy as the top men’s player in the country. He spent the first half of 2023 on loan with the Charleston Battery in the USL Championship, but since returning to Scotland has started six of a possible nine matches for the Dons.

Polvara would strike a little over an hour earlier than U.S. men’s national team center back Mark McKenzie, who would head home a dramatic late equalizer for Genk in a 2-2 draw with Fiorentina.

Watch Polvara’s goal for Aberdeen

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KI makes history as first Faroese club to ever qualify for European competition

European soccer is coming to the Faroe Islands, pop. 54,000

Weeks before big-time European soccer is back underway, tiny KÍ is out here making history.

The Faroe Islands will have a club in the group stage of a European competition for the first time ever after KÍ (that’s Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag, as everyone surely knows) overcame Swedish champions BK Häcken in the second qualifying round for the 2023-24 Champions League.

Now within four games of qualifying for the Champions League proper, KÍ will face a third-round clash with Molde. They will host the Norwegian champions at their 2,500-capacity home Við Djúpumýrar on August 8 or 9, with the second leg coming on August 15.

KÍ is not supposed to be here. The Faroe Islands, with a population of 54,000, is not expected to see any clubs move beyond the first hurdle in any UEFA competition. Generally, that means Faroese clubs are done with their continental obligations in July, when most Champions League clubs aren’t even done with their summer break.

The closest any Faroese club has ever gone to qualifying for a European competition proper came in 2020-21, when on the brink of a spot in the Europa League group stage, KÍ fell 3-1 in a one-game playoff against Irish side Dundalk.

On Wednesday, though, KÍ was ready to take the next step. After a 0-0 first leg draw at home in Klaksvik, the pluckiest of underdogs came back twice at the Bravida Arena, scoring this incredibly awkward goal to equalize in extra time and force a penalty kick tiebreaker that they won 4-3.

KÍ is still a long way from the Champions League, but thanks to the extremely convoluted vagaries of UEFA’s myriad qualifying paths, the club from Klaksvik is already sure of a place in true European competition.

Teams that make it to the third qualifying round for the Champions League face two outcomes. Winners go through to the play-off round, which is the last step before being in the Champions League. Losers are sent to the Europa League’s play-off round, where bigger names like Ajax, Union Saint-Gilloise, and Aberdeen await. Victory there means a spot in the Europa League’s group stage, while defeat ends with a spot in the Conference League’s group stage.

KÍ even getting this far is massively unlikely. The first qualifying round draw set the Faroese champions up against Ferencváros of Hungary, by far the most difficult draw possible based on current UEFA club coefficients.

However, after a scoreless draw at home in the first leg, KÍ produced a massive upset, winning 3-0 in front of 18,187 fans (that is, a hair over one-third of the entire population of the Faroe Islands) in Budapest.

Now, Molde — a club that KÍ manager Magne Hoseth and assistant Daniel Berg Hestad combined to suit up for over 900 times — awaits. Needless to say, back in Klaksvik, they’re hyped.

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AZ issues apology after fans charge West Ham family section

AZ apologized after West Ham fans were attacked by the Dutch side’s ultras following a Europa Conference League semifinal.

AZ has apologized after fans of the Dutch side mounted an attack on a section full of family members of West Ham players and staff.

An ugly season in Dutch soccer stadiums continued Thursday after West Ham’s late 1-0 win at AZ’s AFAS Stadion sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory in the Europa Conference League.

“While everyone hoped for a historic European match, it turned into a pitch black evening due to the events occurring at the referee’s final whistle. It turned into a night to reflect on with shame,” said AZ in a club statement. “Not because of the football game played, but because of the behavior of some visitors. Unfortunately, we cannot use the word ‘supporters’ for these people.”

“What happened is beyond all bounds. The club again sincerely apologizes to West Ham United and the thousands of well-minded AZ supporters who have also been inconvenienced by the misconduct.”

With West Ham celebrating their first European final since 1976, a large group of AZ fans attempted to make their way into a section behind the visitors’ bench, and could be seen on video clashing with stewards and traveling supporters. West Ham players and staff attempted to jump in, though most remained behind advertising boards or were restrained by AZ players.

ESPN reported that the AZ fans broke down a fence to make their move.

“So far, no arrests have been made,” said Dutch police in a statement aired by Sky Sports News on Friday. “Our aim was to disperse the crowd and restore order as quickly as possible, in which we succeeded. The police will investigate footage of the incidents and try to identify supporters. Arrests may follow from this.”

Reuters reported that West Ham fans “accosted” AZ supporters, including the family of manager Pascal Jansen, after the Dutch side scored in the first leg in London.

“It’s annoying, it doesn’t belong in our stadium. Preferably in no stadium,” said Jansen in quotes published by ESPN. “I feel shame. You have to control your emotions, even on a night with a defeat.”

More violence at Dutch matches

In no way could this be called a one-off for fans in the Netherlands, which has seen a series of violent incidents throughout the 2022-23 season.

A PSV fan attempted to attack Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović in February, while Netherlands international Davy Klaassen was left bleeding after being hit in the head by a lighter hurled from the stands by a Feyenoord fan last month.

After Italian police barred Feyenoord fans from attending a Europa League quarterfinal against AS Roma over an incident in 2015, UEFA opted to ban away fans from either leg.

Following the Klaassen incident, the Dutch federation issued new rules requiring referees to halt games immediately upon any fans entering the pitch or throwing objects, and to abandon a game on a second instance.

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