Playoff start Superleague 1 brought 8 teams to the center of this bleak 7-game, 1-round championship with no clouds in the sky. The landscape is absolutely clear. The first 6 teams of the overall standings (regular season and playoffs) will remain in CL1, while the last two will go directly to the playoffs for CL2, without the penultimate one more “rule” of life through the playoffs against a team from the category below, as it was before last year.

In the play-offs the situation is much more complicated and the road to the groups of three European competitions… is dizzying. This 10-match mini-league, where 6 teams face each other in two rounds, will decide on the title and distribution of 5 European tickets. At an auspicious moment (which, judging by the way we are progressing, it will probably be years before we see it again), the Champions League will send 5 of its teams to Europe this year instead of the usual 4 in recent years, with the added bonus of higher floors and fewer obstacles on the way to groups.

The main differences compared to the previous and current years are obvious. Instead of one team, two of our teams will play in the Champions League qualifiers this year, with the added bonus that, although until last year none of our teams qualified for the Europa League with the current system, there is a good ticket this year. for this also. The remaining two will play in the conference league along the same route as last year.

In addition to more teams and richer opportunities that exist in this year’s conditions, the timing of our teams’ entry into the games is also very important. Because that time will also determine how many qualifications it takes to get into the groups. Here things are much better than last year, and there are clearly more opportunities. In more detail:

Champion

The team that wins the championship will start from the 3rd qualifying group of the Champions League and in the worst case will have a guaranteed place in the Conference League. If he makes it out of the 3rd qualifying round (8-9/8 and 15/8) he will qualify for the Champions League play-offs (22-23/8 and 29-30/8) and if he makes it there too, he enters the group stage of the same event with a sword. In other words, he needs two qualifications to reach the ultimate, while last year the champion wanted three.

If they reach the Champions League play-off stage and are eliminated there, they are immediately transferred to the Europa League groups. In case of elimination in the 3rd qualifying round, he will play in the playoffs of the Europa League, and in case of qualification he will fall into the groups of this competition. In case of disqualification, he will fall into the Conference League groups. In other words, the champion will have some kind of European continuation even with two exceptions.

Second

The second place will start one stage earlier, from the 2nd qualifying round (25-25/7 and 1-2/8) of the Champions League and the non-champions path. He will need 3 qualifiers for the Champions League groups, two for the Europa League groups and one for the Conference League. In short, if he advances to the 3rd round, he will be in the same position as the champion and the same will apply to him, with a different path and a different pool of opponents, with a minimum of Conference League groups. If they are eliminated in the 2nd round, they will advance to the 3rd round of the Europa League and will have to go through the playoffs to qualify for the groups of the same tournament. If he is eliminated in the play-offs, he will go directly to the Conference League groups, and if he is eliminated early (3rd round), he will play his European continuation in the Conference League play-offs.

Europa League

A ticket to the 3rd Europa League Qualifier is reserved for the Cup winner (not a finalist in case of a double) or for 3rd place in CL1 if the Cup Winner is one of the top two in the league and qualified for the Champions League. . If, for example, the standings remain the same as they are now and 4th-placed PAOK win the Cup, they will play in the Europa League qualification, not 3rd-placed Olympiacos, who will go to the conference league together with 5th taking SL1. . However, if the team that finished 1st or 2nd in the league wins the Cup, the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League (10/8 and 17/8) will play 3rd in CL1. If he gets through there, he makes it to the playoffs (24/8 and 31/8), securing at least the Conference League groups. If they are knocked out of the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League, they will get into the playoffs of the Conference League. In short, with two qualifications he enters the Europa League groups, and with one, no matter at what stage he does it, he enters the ConferenceLeague groups.

Two from the Conference League

For the two teams that will play in the Conference League qualifiers (definitely 5th and 3rd or 4th in CL1, depending on who wins the Cup), everything is much simpler and clearer: they both start from 2nd place in qualifying (27/7 and 3/8), no airbag. In order to get into the groups of the tournament, they will definitely need three qualifying rounds (two in the qualifying rounds and one in the playoffs), otherwise, where they drop out, they stop there, without a 2nd or even a 3rd chance, so as the other three teams will have.