The Redcafe Champions League Draft

[Theon]

Given that it is the summer and there isn’t much football to discuss I thought it would be an idea to get one of these going again!

The draft is based around the Champions League which only refers to the competition in its current format (no European Cup) - so 1992-93 to 2012-13. Each manager picks a squad of 12 players and all players who fit the criteria are available for drafting. Players are judged at their peak and not solely on Champions League performances – though this can be taken into account.

Eligibility Criteria
- Players must have at least 20 Champions League appearances (no qualifiers)
- All teams must have at least 4 non-Champions League winners in their starting line up - A winner is any player who played an active part in a Champions League winning campaign
- Players must be born after 1/1/1965

Format
If we can get 16 teams then a straight knockout seems the best option.

Subsequent picks
- After the first knockout stage each manager gets to pick three players from the eliminated pool, before going into the quarter finals. This drafting order starts at the bottom.
- After both the quarter and semi finals the winning manager gets to pick one player from the losing team.
- For the semifinal the number of non-CL winners is reduced to three. As these later picks are not made from a pool of players, it helps prevent one team having an advantage over an other when making their pick, i.e. one winner faces a team with Ronaldo, the other one with Zidane.

Draft Rules
- The drafting order is decided by random draw and the sequence is the usual down and then back up - so rounds 1,3,5,7,9,11 start at the top and rounds 2,4,6,8,10,12 start at the bottom.

- You have 12 hours to post your draft pick and update the list. If you do not do so, the draft proceeds to the next manager in line and it is up to you to post your draft pick at your earliest convenience.

- When posting your draft pick, please post a picture of the player. You can also briefly explain why you picked this player.

- Once you have posted your draft pick you can't change it and you have to PM the manager next in line to inform him/her that it is their turn.

- After the draft is complete, match threads will be started where each manager posts their match team, tactics and any persuasive arguments why their team has an upper hand over the opposition


Finding Champions League appearances

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/

Transfer market seems the easiest way and is simple to use
- towards the top left of the homepage there is a search box under the logo, just type the players name into that and they will come up
- Then go onto performance data for all the appearance stats
- If anyone can't find the stats for a particular player then just PM me and I'll find it for you!


The aim of the draft is to have fun and hopefully some decent debates. So everyone should feel free to post any discussions they like in the draft thread – even if you aren’t playing!

Draft picks

Spoiler

The Game: 1. Zidane 2. Seedorf 3. Shevchenko 4. Frank De Boer 5. Pires 6. Cocu 7. Ze Roberto 8. Lopez 9. Simic 10. Reuter 11. Baia 12. Di Livio
JakeC: 1. Messi 2. Cantona 3. Buffon 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Xabi Alonso 6. Puyol 7. Mascherano 8. Sagnol 9. Ljungberg 10. Chivu 11. Robinho 12. Tiago Mendes
kps88: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Kohler 3. Davids 4. Vieri 5. Riquelme 6. Costacurta 7. Cambiasso 8. Salgado 9. Gonzalez 10. Heinze 11. Peruzzi 12. Solskjaer
Thisistheone: 1. Ronaldo 2. Desailly 3. Rui Costa 4. Blanc 5. Essien 6. Dani Alves 7. Rooney 8. Paulo Sousa 9. Grosso 10. Barthez 11. Di Maria 12. Simao
Ralaks: 1. Keane 2. Del Piero 3. Effenberg 4. Beckham 5. Overmars 6. Ramos 7. Trezeguet 8. Piqué 9. Rafael 10. van der Sar 11. Capdevila 12. Higuain
nahealai: 1. Xavi 2. Raúl 3. van Nistelrooy 4. Ballack 5. Busquets 6. Lizarazu 7. Irwin 8. Abidal 9. Kahn 10. Couto 11. Marchena 12. Juninho
Stobzilla: 1. Henry 2. Stam 3. Totti 4. Gerrard 5. Veron 6. Mata 7. G. Neville 8. Mijatovic 9. Mihajlovic 10. Hyypia 11. Toldo 12. Van Bommel
Feeky: 1. Maldini 2. Scholes 3. Bergkamp 4. Deschamps 5. Ibrahimovic 6. Y. Touré 7. David Silva 8. Lúcio 9. Marcelo 10. Casillas 11. Srna 12. Sneijder
akash02: 1. Romario 2. Cannavaro 3. Hagi 4. Guardiola 5. Lahm 6. McManaman 7. Petit 8. Chiellini 9. Baraja 10. Van Bronckhorst 11. Canizares 12. Recoba
Gio: 1. Rivaldo 2. Nedved 3. Ferdinand 4. Zanetti 5. Fabregas 6. Zambrotta 7. Montero 8. Joaquin 9. Owen 10. Mauro Silva 11. Taffarel 12. Makaay
Snow: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Kaka 3. Mendieta 4. Terry 5. Carvalho 6. A. Cole 7. Ozil 8. Gallas 9. Cech 10. Albelda 11. Torres 12. Schneider
Isotope: 1. Redondo 2. Ribery 3. Eto'o 4. Albertini 5. Campbell 6. Boban 7. Forlan 8. Angloma 9. Kompany 10. Coentrao 11. Lehmann 12. Valerón
EDogen: 1. Nesta 2. Giggs 3. Hierro 4. Van Persie 5. Enrique 6. Robben 7.Evra 8. Ferrara 9. Deco 10. Simeone 11. Sagna 12. Rustu
Theon: 1. Iniesta 2. Pirlo 3. Cafu 4. Gattuso 5. De Rossi 6. Crespo 7. Aguero 8. Thiago Silva 9. Candela 10. Nadal 11. Neuer 12. Kluivert
Fergus'son: 1. Batistuta 2. Thuram 3. Ayala 4. Makelele 5. Schweinsteiger 6. Moller. 7. Villa 8. Muller 9. Aimar 10. Samuel 11. Reina 12. Tarnat
BD/NM: 1. Vieira 2. Figo 3. Vidic 4. Drogba 5.Lampard 6. Popescu 7. Maicon 8. Gilberto 9. Giuly 10. Sergi 11.Litmanen 12. Lloris

First Round Fixtures
Wednesday - Snow vs Fergus'son

Thursday - Nahealai vs Gio

Friday - Ralaks vs Feeky

Saturday - Tito vs Stob

Monday - TheGame vs EDogen

Tuesday - akash vs Jake

Wednesday - kps vs Isotope

Thursday - BD/NM vs Theon

Reinforcement Round

Fergus 1. Messi 2. Scholes 3. Irwin
Theon 1. Maldini 2. Xavi 3. Shevchenko
EDogen 1. Zidane 2. Buffon 3. Pires
Gio 1. Ronaldinho 2. Viera 3. Vidic
Akash 1. Henry 2. Lizarazu 3. Ballack
Ralaks 1. Stam 2. Campbell 3. Ruud
TITO 1. Figo 2. R Carlos 3. Toldo
Kps 1. Redondo 2. Cole 3. Lloris

Quarter Finals and winner pick

Gio v Akash - Romario

TITO v Theon - Ronaldo

EDogen v Ralaks - Keane

Fergus v kps - C. Ronaldo


Semi Finals

Theon v EDogen

Gio v Fergus

 

[Feeky Magee]

Yeah alright.

 

[kps88]

I'm in!

 

[Nighteyes]

count me in

 

[Snow]

I've got nothing to do. I'm in.

 

[Buchan]

I'll play, gents.

 

[Isotope]

Put me in.

And I bet Aldoraine would be also. It's his life. So count him in.

 

[JakeC]

in.

 

[EDogen]

I will join this

 

[Ralaks]

I'm in

 

[Theon]

I will join this

You were really unlucky last time! You had an amazing team

Okay that is 9 now, so 6 more and we are good to go!

Edit - 5 more!

 

[TheGame]

I'll join

 

[Gio]

Given that it is the summer and there isn’t much football to discuss I thought it would be an idea to get one of these going again!

There's certainly not much else happening on the football fora on the Caf, aside from Ronaldo being a pricktease to get a fatter contract, so count me in.

 

[Theon]

Fergus'son is in this as well actually, he PMed me saying he will join just before starting this and is helping me run it incase I can't get on.

So only three more spaces now Gio has joined.

 

[Theon]

There's certainly not much else happening on the football fora on the Caf, aside from Ronaldo being a pricktease to get a fatter contract, so count me in.

Was going to PM you suggesting you play Gio, glad you're in!

 

[Isotope]

Fergus'son is in this as well actually, he PMed me saying he will join just before starting this and is helping me run it incase I can't get on.

So only two more spaces now Gio has joined.

How is your last partner in crime, NM?

 

[Thisistheone]

Theon, sign me on the dotted line.

 

[Stobzilla]

In.

 

[BD]

Go on please. i.e In

 

[Theon]

1) Theon
2) Feeky
3) kps88
4) akash02
5) Snow
6) Nahealai
7) isotope
8) EDogen
9) Jake
10) Ralaks
11) The Game
12) Gio
13) Fergus'son
14) Tito
15) Stob

 

[NM]

in

 

[Theon]

Go on. Or if anyone wants to co-manage one.

If you want I can put you in as the 16th and final team, but if you wanted to co manage then I reckon there will be a fair few who have signed up who wouldn't mind if you asked them, its definitely good to have someone to bounce ideas off etc

Up to you man, you can go as the final one if you want?

 

[BD]

If you want I can put you in as the 16th and final team, but if you wanted to co manage then I reckon there will be a fair few who have signed up who wouldn't mind if you asked them, its definitely good to have someone to bounce ideas off etc

Up to you man, you can go as the final one if you want?

Yeah, I'll go in as the final one sure. Thanks.

 

[NM]

I said on first . Comanage BD?

 

[BD]

I said on first . Comanage BD?

Yeah, fine. You can be the assistant manager

 

[Stobzilla]

I Will happily take on an assistant also.

 

[Theon]

Right that's sorted!

Does someone who isn't playing mind copying the list of players through here http://www.random.org/lists/ then we can get the drafting order.

1) Theon
2) Feeky
3) kps88
4) akash02
5) Snow
6) Nahealai
7) isotope
8) EDogen
9) Jake
10) Ralaks
11) The Game
12) Gio
13) Fergus'son
14) Tito
15) Stob
16) BD/NM

 

[JakeC]

bagsee brwned.

 

[Theon]

There were 16 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. 11) The Game
2. 9) Jake
3. 3) kps88
4. 14) Tito
5. 10) Ralaks
6. 6) Nahealai
7. 15) Stob
8. 2) Feeky
9. 4) akash02
10. 12) Gio
11. 5) Snow
12. 7) isotope
13. 8) EDogen
14. 1) Theon
15. 13) Fergus'son
16. 16) BD/NM

Timestamp: 2013-06-12 21:30:32 UTC

 

[Thisistheone]

4th... That'll do me.

 

[Stobzilla]

Blast, right in the middle.

 

[Theon]

So TheGame is up first!

Seeing as he's the first one, he can have 24 hours so it's fair and he has enough notice.

Remember to PM the next person in the list after making your pick, and try and post a picture

 

[Isotope]

Damn

 

[Theon]

Damn

I don't think it matters too much in a draft like this, the depth of players is huge!

Going first is definitely a bonus though because one player is clearly significantly better than the rest, but after that I think it should even out

 

[JakeC]

Can I just go? We know who I can't pick.

 

[Stobzilla]

All these drafts do is separate those who do have lives outside of the caf from those who don't






Pease pick soon TG.......

 

[Theon]

I know Stob

I think he's gone off - annoying because we all know who he will pick!

 

[EDogen]

You were really unlucky last time! You had an amazing team

Okay that is 9 now, so 6 more and we are good to go!

Edit - 5 more!

Yeah, that is true.. I hope for better luck this time!

 

[Snow]

I'll look into an assistant role if someone is offering.

 

[Stobzilla]

I need to see some credentials Snow.

One question only, have you been to the Icelandic Phallogical Museum ?