Copenhagen Files

Picture gallery: Friendly vs Esbjerg fB

2012-01-25T17:39:00.002+01:00

Result: 5-1 win. Best goal probably the first timed kick for 4-1 by Diouf. He played a good game as did Delaney and Nordstrand; Toutouh and Claudemir not so much. Nice weather, minus two degrees.

Click to enlarge.

Manager Carsten Vagn Jensen and director Anders Hørsholt.

Nordstrand.

Bengtsson.

Toutouh.

Nordstrand.

Thomsen and Sigurdsson.

Claudemir, Delaney, Nordstrand.

Delaney, Thomsen.

Nordstrand.

Nordstrand, Toutouh.

Thomsen, Claudemir, Wiland, Sigurdsson, Diouf.

Bengtsson.

Nordstrand.

Diouf.

Bengtsson (and Sigurdsson?)

Toutouh.

Zohore, Bengtsson, Toutouh, Claudemir.

Diouf (and Thomsen in the far back)

Nordstrand.

Diouf.

Zohore, Nordstrand.

Bengtsson.

Ottesen, Gamboa.

Gamboa.

Gamboa, Bolaños.

Nordstrand.

Break.

Pre-season analysis: Superliga squad values and chances graphed

2011-07-15T19:02:00.003+02:00

Alright, season starts tomorrow. Here is a chart of approximate squad transfer values (blue columns, from transfermarkt.de), championship winning chances (red connected dots, from betbrain.com) and relegation risks (orange connected dots, from betbrain.com).

Since the above interactive graph will change if sources change, here is a screenshot taken on publishing day:

Danish Superliga 2010/11: final standings analysis, championship videos (updated)

2011-05-30T21:45:00.003+02:00

Final standings w/significance marked

#	Club	W	D	L	GF	GA	CS	NG
1	FC København	25****	6*	2****	77****	29****	13***	2**
2	OB	16	7	10	55	41	9	6
3	Brøndby IF	13	12	8	52	39	8	5
4	FC Midtjylland	13	10	10	50	42	11	6
5	Silkeborg	10	13	10	43	49	6	7
6	FC Nordsjælland	10	9	14	38	50	7	11
7	SønderjyskE	11	6*	16	32	46	8	12
8	Lyngby	10	8	15	42	52	9	6
9	AC Horsens	9	10	14	29	40	11	15**
10	AaB	8	11	14	38	48	8	14*
11	Randers FC	6	16***	11	41	48	8	10
12	Esbjerg fB	7	12	14	36	49	5**	9

Yellow + red cards

Brøndby IF	49*
Silkeborg	48
SønderjyskE	46
OB	46
Randers FC	44
FC Midtjylland	43
AC Horsens	42
AaB	42
FC Nordsjælland	42
Lyngby	40
Esbjerg	35*
FC København	30****

Evaluation of winter break graphical league table

Actual finishing points marked with green crosses. It appears the guesstimates were pretty good!

Beach ball tifo

Championship celebrations

Handicap league table
FC København would have won the championship even if each game had begun with a free goal for the opponent, a 0-1 handicap in each match!
+-----+--------------+----+----+----+----+----+-------+
| # | Club | M | W | D | L | P | Score |
+-----+--------------+----+----+----+----+----+-------+
| 1 | København | 33 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 59 | 77-62 |
| 2 | OB | 33 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 56 | 58-41 |
| 3 | Brøndby | 33 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 53 | 55-39 |
| 4 | Midtjylland | 33 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 49 | 53-42 |
| 5 | Silkeborg | 33 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 45 | 46-49 |
| 6 | SønderjyskE | 33 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 41 | 35-46 |
| 7 | Lyngby | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 45-52 |
| 8 | Horsens | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 32-40 |
| 9 | Nordsjælland | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 41-50 |
| 10 | AaB | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 38 | 41-48 |
| 11 | Esbjerg | 33 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 36 | 39-49 |
| 12 | Randers | 33 | 6 | 17 | 10 | 35 | 44-48 |
+-----+--------------+----+----+----+----+----+-------+
(This magnificent statistic is done by ougar.)

Champions League 2010

2010-12-08T23:36:00.001+01:00

Very nice Champions League campaign including these three Copenhagen memories:

København - Rubin 1-0

København - Barcelona 1-1

København - Panathinaikos 3-1

#    Clubs      W    D    L    F    A   +/-   Pts
1    FC Barcelona    4    2    0   14    3   11    14
2    FC København 3    1    2    7    5    2    10
3    FC Rubin Kazan   1    3    2    2    4   -2   6
4    Panathinaikos    0    2    4    2   13 -11   2

Ludicrous dominance in Danish league with 19 points lead to #2. Lost count of the number of records broken:

Danish league: round 8 status, round 9 preview

2010-09-18T10:29:00.001+02:00

Eight rounds and 48 games of 33 rounds and 198 matches have been played. Or almost a quarter of the season which might be as good a time to sum up as any. Plus: tomorrow, Sunday 19 September 2010, 18:00 CET, FC Copenhagen plays Brøndby IF in the so called "New Firm"; the match that Danish fans used to put up with the rest of the shoddy season for.

Round 8 status

FC Copenhagen (København / FCK) have taken the lead alone: Unbeaten. 6 wins. 20 points. Numbers that speak for themselves? Not yet, really.

Round 9 preview

19-09-2010 18:00 FC København-Brøndby: IF 0.47 0.30 0.23; always unpredictable but logic says 2-1 or something similar.

Read the full article with status on the whole league and previews of the entire 9th round at Footbo.

Sibusisu Zuma, yours truly, Bayern vs Inter at McGrath's and the World Cup

2010-05-24T12:10:00.006+02:00

It's Sibusiso Zuma to the left ;-)

We both happened to enjoy a beer and this season's Champions League final, Bayern vs Inter, at McGrath's, "The South African Bar", at Østerbrogade close to Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Friendly guy talking to many people and happy to recollect the good old days of beating Brøndby.

McGrath's has multiple big screens, is regularly packed for Champions League games - and has "BAFANA BAFANA" painted across the wall. Probably a nice place to watch South Africa's World Cup games! Sells several brands of beer, both bottled and from keg. Half a liter of draft Guiness was about € 6.5, bottled Danish Carlsberg about € 3.5.

Speaking of the World Cup neither Zuma nor I will go. But from FC København three players will: Jesper Grønkjær, Jesper Christiansen (as one of three reserve goalies) and William Kvist. Plus three former FC København players: Lars Jacobsen, Christian Poulsen and Michael Silberbauer.

Danish Superliga 2009/2010, final standings analysis

2010-05-17T18:25:00.003+02:00

(33 rounds)
		W			D			L			F			A			P	CS	NG
1	FC København	21	***	5	*	7	*	61	***	22	**	68	**	17	***	8
2	OB	17		8		8		46		34		59		10		6	**
3	Brøndby IF	15		7		11		57	*	50		52		5	*	6	**
4	Esbjerg fB	13		11	***	9		48		43		50		10		10
5	AaB	13		9		11		36		30		48		14	*	10
6	FC Midtjylland	14		5	*	14		45		48		47		9		11
7	FC Nordsjælland	12		7		14		40		41		43		10		12
8	Silkeborg	12		7		14		47		51		43		7		9
9	SønderjyskE	11		8		14		32		37		41		11		11
10	Randers FC	10		10	*	13		37		43		40		8		11
11	AGF	10		8		15		36		47		38		9		13	*
12	HB Køge	4	***	7		22	****	30	*	69	***	19	***	5	*	8

	Cards
		Y	R	TC					W		Won
	AGF	66	3	69	***			D		Draws
	Silkeborg	53	1	54				L		Lost
	HB Køge	49	3	52				F		Goals For


OB	47	3	50		A	Goals Against
AaB	46	1	47		P	Points
FC Midtjylland	43	2	45		CS	Clean Sheets
FC Nordsjælland	42	2	44		NG	No Goals
Randers FC	37	3	40		Y	Yellow Cards
Esbjerg fB	34	3	37		R	Red Cards
Brøndby IF	37	0	37		TC	Total Cards
SønderjyskE	35	1	36
FC København	21	1	22	***	*	Outside 80%; P<0.2
					**	Outside 90%; P<0.1
					***	Outside 95%; P<0.05
					****	Outside 98%; P<0.02

Just another championship

2010-05-04T16:58:00.005+02:00

Last Sunday was the night of the "New Firm" - one of the at least three annual matches vs. former Danish flagship, Brøndby IF. FC København won 0-2 away. The championship was practically secured.

Being a Danish football fan, FC Copenhagen season ticket holder and occasional blogger I should have been excited, right? And after the win I should be even more excited, right? Wrong.

Brøndby IF is not a force to be reckoned with in the top of Danish football any more. Years of mismanagement combined with entirely unrealistic ambitions have left them with the role of an unintentional entertainment factor. In different circumstances thee, maybe four, of their players would have a chance on the FC Copenhagen rooster. I didn't bother watching the hours of TV warm-up this time. I hadn't met up with a bunch of friends to shout at the screen - let alone traveled to the windy, suburban stadium, now a place enjoyable by hooligans alone. I opened a Carlsberg from my couch fully expecting the win and not even worrying too much about the consequences of the low risk of a draw or loss.

In fact, I bet 5 Danish kroner (I don't bet a lot) on 0-2:
Spot on - but unfortunately combined with a 2-2 outcome of FC Nordsjælland vs Randers FC which ended 1-1.

I didn't bother watching yesterday's SønderjyskE vs OB which ended as a surprise 2-0 win for the relegation threatened south Jutland team over our pursuing OB. Because OB would need to practically win the rest of their games anyway and sooner or later that would slip for them, I didn't doubt. It did happen a bit soon, though. Now OB need to win their last three games to get to the 62 points we're at already. That happening combined with us losing our three games and OB overcoming a +25 goal score difference... well, it's not happening. (My model says ~0.0186% before taking the goal difference into account.)

The real entertainment these days is in watching Brøndby fans and players babble on TV and reading the Brøndby IF inclined journalists rant on and on about how Brøndby was the better team for parts of the game, how a bronze medal is still possible despite their unlucky start of the season, how the club emanates a unique team spirit and has supporters of supernatural abilities. And in trying to get into some European clashes, of course.

A highly unpredictable league is drawing to an end. I'm considering a look at the mildly entertaining and very wrong prophesies made by journalists and experts at season start and half-time one of these days. But for now, I'll just dump some tendencies for the remaining games:

05-05-2010
Randers FC-AaB 0.311 0.289 0.4
FC Midtjylland-Brøndby IF 0.427 0.191 0.382
FC København-HB Køge 0.678 0.178 0.144
06-05-2010
Esbjerg fB-Silkeborg 0.404 0.281 0.3145
AGF-SønderjyskE 0.356 0.311 0.333
OB-FC Nordsjælland 0.456 0.222 0.322
09-05-2010
Brøndby IF-AaB 0.352 0.264 0.385
HB Køge-FC Midtjylland 0.278 0.178 0.544
Silkeborg-FC København 0.289 0.2 0.511
SønderjyskE-Esbjerg fB 0.308 0.286 0.407
FC Nordsjælland-AGF 0.422 0.222 0.356
OB-Randers FC 0.456 0.311 0.233
16-05-2010
Randers FC-Brøndby IF 0.326 0.258 0.416
AGF-OB 0.267 0.289 0.444
FC Midtjylland-Silkeborg 0.433 0.211 0.356
AaB-HB Køge 0.578 0.233 0.189
Esbjerg fB-FC Nordsjælland 0.416 0.247 0.337
FC København-SønderjyskE 0.544 0.233 0.222

Magic league table at 3/4 of season

2010-04-08T20:22:00.004+02:00

Just ran my little helper script again. Since I also developed another tool, I'm looking at the results and wondering how to integrate the statistical clairvoyance some time in the future (probably after TH!NK3).

Click image for larger view.

It's basically a color code made from significant deviations in wins-draws-losses that makes an alternative differentiation across the distribution of possible final points for each team. Red at minimum and maximum, green in the middle but with some variation. Should probably just do the whole thing over in a genius way but until then...

Feeling more and more secure of another championship. FC København is now at 16 wins and just 4 lost in 25 games, a comfortable score of 45 for to 13 against and an impressive 14 clean sheets. Sure, OB is just 6 points behind but certainly looking less impressive.

The bronze medal is going to Silkeborg, Esbjerg fB, FC Midtjylland, AaB or even Brøndby IF. Or OB if one of these snatches the silver.

HB Køge is relegating. And Randers looks doomed too - except they recently sprinted closer and closer to Sønderjyske.

I may or may not do more of these tables at my Twitter, footracle.

Pre-spring season 2010 status

2010-01-31T13:21:00.004+01:00

The table drawn as crude probablility distributions for final standings (see earlier explanations if not obvious):

Championship chances as inferred from bookmakers are: FC Kobenhavn 49%, OB Odense 41%, Esbjerg F.B. 5.2%, Brondby I.F. 2.4%, Silkeborg IF, AGF Aarhus, Aab Aalborg, FC Midtjylland and others less than 1%.

What people are talking about: New signing Bryan Oviedo, 19 year old Costa Rican national (Presentaron a Bryan Oviedo con el F.C. Copenhaguen de Dinamarca, FCK to sign Costa Rican), and Kenneth Zohore, 15 year old youth team striker.

...none of which are likely to get us past Olympique de Marseille, currently 6th in Ligue 1 and looking like this recently:

Arfa - Brandão or Niang - Kone

Cheyrou - Mbia or Cisse - Abriel

Bonnart - Hilton - Diawara - Kabore

Mandanda

Hard to predict though since manager Didier Deschamps shuffles his cards often.

Friendly home vs Vejle: 3-0 win

2009-07-12T14:03:00.004+02:00

(Sorry: No naked butts this time.)

Something geeky: A statisticians' view of the league table

2009-06-03T18:09:00.004+02:00

Could not help trying this idea: Submitting the league table for a straight forward analysis of it's means and "confidence intervals".

More randomness is involved in relegation than in winning?

A graphical look at points only. Green line is mean (45), black lines mark confidence interval boundaries. Championships do not come by chance very often.

Guess I'm exploiting the extremes of my inspiration here? Or?

Placed 2nd with three matches to go things are getting tricky

2009-05-15T17:53:00.003+02:00

A picture is worth a thousand words...

X-axis is final standing points of the top three teams, Y-axis are probabilities. Many combinations are mutually exclusive, of course. The graph is based on this Google Spreadsheet.

It's about 47 hours 'till the "final":

17-05-2009 17:30 FC København - Brøndby

However, FC Midtjylland placed 4th will play both Brøndby and OB plus OB will have to play Sønderjyske and Horsens who are fighting to avoid relegation. Nothing has been settled.

UEFA goal of the week by Aílton Almeida

2009-05-02T17:39:00.002+02:00

Picking the ball up just inside the Horsens half, Aílton effortlessly slips past a defender before tumbling as he attempts to round the goalkeeper. Having almost run the ball out of play near the corner of the area, he somehow keeps it in, chips it over the custodian as he springs past him, and then finishes with the outside of his boot from a seemingly impossible angle to clinch a 2-0 win which took FCK two points clear of Brøndby IF at the top of the Danish Superligaen.

Waiting for Thursday by...

2009-02-17T17:07:00.004+01:00

...uploading graphics and stuff!

A scene from last Saturday's friendly vs Norwegian Stabæk as seen through the fence.

Of course I went to see the home friendly. And of course my inside intelligence - which could completely revolutionize your expectations for Thursday's UEFA Cup clash with Manchester City - is staggering I guarantee you. But I won't bother sharing :-)

Here's another weird thingie for you:

The league standings as I see it through my little helper script. Top teams in green box, bottom in red. Gaps marked by green strokes. (Key: 0 is points now / minimum, X is most likely / finish tendency and 3 is maximum finishing points.)

Before hacking the already messy script for my new ideas I draw them. Such as these boxes that attempt to define the top and bottom. I'm not so sure I'll program this one though.

According to my not-so award winning probability assessment script the chance of a Copenhagen victory is 31%, the probability of a draw 28% and the risk of a loss 41%. Perhaps that is realistic.

Unofficial list of injuries: Manchester City: Shaun Wright-Phillips, Daniel Sturridge, Richard Dunne, Dietmar Hamann, Benjani Mwaruwari, Martin Petrov, Michael Johnson, Valeri Bojinov; FC København: Cesar Santin.

That will be as much copy/pasting I'll bother for this time. In the good old days I'd have dropped the story about Ståle dissing City's buying of many players you see above anyway. And I would have written something nearly artistic. Not so much anymore, folks. I have to admit I'm having fun with other projects.

A youth team match vs Lyngby

2009-01-24T13:39:00.005+01:00

Had some business in town this morning and figured I'd drop by the training grounds on my way. But I was late and missed it. Noticed a youth team match nearby and stuck around for about half an hour. Why not it wasn't raining that much!

It was a visit from Lyngby. True to the prejudice of Lyngby style of play, they had the ball and attacked. The guests's no. 12, "Yousuff" judging from the shouts - a tall kid with curly black hair, did well in an offensive midfielder role. The Copenhagen defense deterred most efforts though and the rest missed the goal. One of the defenders were called "Højer" which should ring a bell.

"Yousuff" opening for a pass on their right wing.

But not getting past the defense anyway.

The part of the match I watched was a 2-0 win because the lone striker, a stocky black kid, scored on the two chances he got (not entirely sure he did the actual finishing as it was in the far end of the field, but almost sure). Quality performance judging from the very little I saw; he didn't lose the ball a single time he got it. Think his name was "Dan" or something like that.

A lonely striker.

Man I miss the Super league season...

Moved on only to find the shop I was going to had closed. Well at least I got some fresh air... and rain on this Saturday morning.

Happy New Year - and a look at 2009

2009-01-11T16:38:00.007+01:00

Welcome to 2009.

First change is I will no longer update the Google Calendar previously found below these posts and through iCal. Because someone has awaken to the present and an official calendar is now available at FCK.dk: use fck.dk/ics/. Subscribe in your preferred calendar software.

I'm still not delivering the obnoxious stream of transfer rumors. But the signing of 23 years old Senegalese offensive player Dame N'Doye [Wikipedia, Transfermarkt] appears to be practically finished. We know him a bit too well because he scored when his former club, Panathinaikos FC, beat us November 2007 [match stats at bold.dk]:

A look at our next UEFA Cup opponent could be in place but right now it's simply too much work for a lazy blogger as Manchester City could upgrade half their team. Last rumor I saw was they are talking to the Italian coach Mancini. I'm looking forward to see Robinho in Copenhagen, though.

On a final note a team of youth players were eliminated in the group stage of the indoor Danish championship today. Good performances by Danni Jensen and Kevin Bechmann Timm.

Hibernation status

2008-12-19T11:50:00.004+01:00

Denmark

51.5% of the season's matches have resulted in 44.1% home wins, 28.4% draws and 27.5% away wins. My "creative" league standings puts Copenhagen firmly in the top three with a nice unbeaten at home record:

League resumes 1st of March with the Brøndby away darby.

Europe

Amazingly, Wednesday we beat Club Brügge to advance in the UEFA Cup.

Club Brugge 0 - 1 FC Copenhagen

FC Copenhagen pulled off a smash-and-grab job to beat Club Brugge 1-0 and claim Group G's final place in the knock-out stages. Club Brugge started the night in third place, needing only to avoid defeat to go through, but after dominating the opening half, they fell behind when Cesar Santin fired Copenhagen ahead just before the hour mark.

In the "Round of 32" we will clash with Manchester City at 18th or 19th February and 26th of February 2009.

FC Pornography

2008-11-26T20:14:00.005+01:00

About 30% of the traffic to this blog (that's you) come here looking for something... a bit more erotic than football usually is. Google Analytics reveals everything. There are no pictures of a nude Niklas Bendtner here but there are links to a certain training session.

Since I just hate to disappoint people I guess I might as well throw in a few links for the story of the week (sic!): A sponsor ships free pornographic DVD's to the training grounds after wins.

Free Porn Is Always A Gre at Incentive

Hell yeah there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, this might be the only thing that can prevent the Lions from going winless this season.

"Winless"? I suggest they spend a bit more time following the Danish league and a bit less time manipulating images.

Former Old Firm stars get interesting win bonus.. por no films

Copenhagen, known locally as FCK, screen the films at their training ground - although they refuse to reveal who gets to keep them afterwards.

Here's a recommendation...

The world's 50 greatest soccer derbies

2008-11-16T00:27:00.001+01:00

44 - FC Copenhagen v Brondby

Denmark's big derby is called the "New Firm" with Brondby founded in 1964 in the drab industrial section of the city while Copenhagen, who have a huge white-collar fan base, came about after a merger of minor clubs in 1992. Copenhagen have a "cool" image while their rivals have a "big fat chip on their shoulder".

UEFA Cup blues

2008-11-06T00:06:00.002+01:00

OK so we lost to a really good team round 1, right? Since then their league results have been...

St. Etienne-Grenoble 0-2

St. Etienne-Lorient 1-4

Marseille-St. Etienne 3-1

Impressive. Their coach has been given until Sunday: First beat Rosenborg then beat Rennes... or you're fired. Coincidentally our coach, Solbakken, has stated his intentions to move to something bigger than FC København. I suppose a lot of fans will agree the feeling is mutual. Perhaps there is a job for you in France next Sunday? Perhaps not.

Tomorrow is round 2 which - of course - I look so much forward to I search the web for obscure info: Uefa Cup Preview: Valencia - FC Copenhagen

Valencia will be looking to make a strong start in Europe as they play their first group game when FC Copenhagen visit Mestalla on Thursday evening, while the visitors will be looking for their first points.

[...]

Valencia in Mestalla will, arguably, be their toughest game and without first-choice centre-backs Ulrik Laursen and Peter Larsson they will not be relishing the prospect of an in-form David Villa. Defeat for the visitors could mean that they face an uphill struggle to make the next round

[...]

PREDICTION

Copenhagen are likely to travel to Mestalla to defend, but with a rearranged rearguard things may not be as organised as coach Ståle Solbakken would like and that is where Valencia could take advantage. There may be a few nerves from the home side at the outset, but an early goal should lift the team and then a comfortable victory is likely to be theirs.

Valencia 2 - 0 FC Copenhagen

Let me just mentally prepare for this sight for a second...

Group G Pld Pts
St Etienne 2 6
Valencia 1 3
Club Brugge 1 1
Rosenborg 2 1
København 2 0

Goodnight.

Oscar Wendt at IMScouting.com

2008-11-01T14:21:00.005+01:00

Just found two interesting things: an article featuring one of my favourite players right now and the site the article is on. Check out 10 young players to watch:

6) Oscar Wendt (22), Left defender, FC Copenhagen (Denmark)

The Swedish international defender is one of the best defensive players in the Danish league, and is already being tracked by Borussia Monchengladbach and Italian clubs Juventus and Siena.

The fact that Wendt was part of the Swedish 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign has given him experience and confidence. Wendt is a very strong defender who combines a physical game with good pace and technique which allows him to provide good scoring opportunities. Definitely a player to keep an eye on.
(my emphasises)

Another semi-user-generated content site this one claims to be a valuable tool for agents, managers and fans. At the very least it's another must have link for my right hand column list of FC København relevant web pages. I personally couldn't resist signing up for a free account to see how much it rocks. Here is what they promise so far:

As a FREE member of IMScouting you can access a huge amount of features from the largest football player database in existence, including a basic search tool, player information, results, match events, fixtures and league information for more than 500 competitions around the world including Europe, Africa, South America, North America and Asia. [...] The database has been completed, and is constantly updated by a network of football experts based locally across the globe, with the sole focus to provide you with a genuine global grassroots insight into the world of professional football.

So what my little Google helper found for me was some type of blog post or news article that included information about one of FC København's players. But what else does the site tell me as a free account user? At Oscar's profile I'm quickly disappointed all I get is the "Overview" part - tabs General, Career, Media, Medical and Skills are all premium content for paying users. Current contract details are hidden for me too.

Oscar Wendt at IMScouting.com

However, if the site is really being used by agents, I'd guess it's info in general being relatively trustworthy. I like the position map bottom right. I'll try and see if they post more interesting articles and if it's useful for getting info on semi-obsure teams... such as Club Brugge we'll be facing in the UEFA Cup. With the free account. Which after browsing the site for a few minutes I fear isn't that usefull at all. But at 1,200 € a year the premium account is not something I'll try out anytime too soon I'm afraid. The FC København team profile shows a pretty dope nationality break down though:

I'm sure more usefull and/or funny features will entertain me. But for now just let it be known Oscar rules :-)

Checking out Footbo.com

2008-10-18T19:52:00.005+02:00

Yet another chunk of my "need" for this blog has been chopped off. Perpetrators being the people behind Footbo.com, a social website for football fans.

So what is that site about? I've been checking it out lately and have gone from quite skeptical to nearly excited. It's a "Facebook only about football" type thing. You create a profile, connect with "friends" and write on their walls, show off your favourite teams, pick your favourite 11, taunt the opponent fans at the match page et cetera. What use is another social networking website then!?

What makes it worth your time is functionality it has that potentially leaves hitherto essential football sites obsolete. Like livescore.com, Footbo has that. And football-lineups.com too. For each game users can grade the players and best-of teams are automatically generated. Of course, there are league tables and all the usual sort of stuff. Users guess at any future result and "distribution cakes" are generated to illustrate expectations before the result is settled and each users prediction score is calculated (so far I didn't do too well). Sort of useful for match probabilities. And they have Michael Ballack write a blog (well one post so far).

Since I first set up Copenhagen Files in excitement about Google News and Blogger (Hello World) I have successively changed scope and direction (Media & Mission Statement (sort of) and Spring cleaning). Footbo has managed to merge so many features in one site it is actually both useful and fun. I'll now (every now and then) participate in their never-ending prediction game, grade players of matches I've seen, follow live scores and mingle with fellow football geeks. And perhaps post a bit less here at Copenhagen Files.

It remains to be seen how succesful Footbo will become. Will users add to its value or mess it up? And if the few weird kinks (it's still in beta) will be worked out nicely. But I already added a link to FC Københavns team page there in this blogs right hand column. And if you read this, please consider visiting my Footbo profile and add me as a "friend".

Enjoy.

Our standing

2008-10-16T23:33:00.006+02:00

I guess when I get a nerdy idea I can't help pulling it through. Here's a merged table of all Danish Superliga plus our UEFA Cup group opponents. Points are home league point averages times country UEFA coefficient. A rough measure...

League pos.	Team	Funny points
1	Valencia	177
13	St. Etienne	54
3	Club Brugge	53
1	OB	50
2	FC København	48
3	Brøndby IF	45
4	FC Midtjylland	43
4	Rosenborg	30
5	AGF	29
6	Randers FC	26
7	AC Horsens	21
8	Vejle	21
9	FC Nordsjælland	19
10	SønderjyskE	19
11	AaB	19
12	Esbjerg fB	14

UEFA Cup group stage secured

2008-10-03T07:02:00.003+02:00

We're through but it wasn't particularly pretty. I'm not going to elaborate on it, but there's a short review at UEFA.com - "Star attractions make it to the draw" - and I did type in some player grades at the footbo.com match page. Good luck to FC Moscow in the future.

Here's a list of possible group stage opponents, one team from each seeding pot: 1) AC Milan, Sevilla, Valencia, Benfica, Schalke 04, CSKA Moscow, Tottenham Hotspur, Hamburger SV; 2) VfB Stuttgart, Ajax, Olympiakos Piraeus, Deportivo La Coruña, Club Brugg, Spartak Moscow, Paris Saint-Germain, Heerenveen; 3) Rosenborg BK, Udinese, Feyenoord, Sporting Braga, Slavia Praha, Manchester City, Galatasaray, Sampdoria; 5) AS Saint-Étienne, VfL Wolfsburg, Standard Liège, FC Twente Enschede, NEC Nijmegen, Metalist Kharkiv, Lech Poznan, MSK Zilina (c/p from kassiesa.com, should probably double check it).