The draw for the Semifinals for the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League was carried out yesterday in Nyon, Switzerland. And there are some mouth watering clashes coming.
Reigning UEFA Champions League champions FC Chelsea face Swiss giants FC Basel, who have had some success against English sides in the last couple of years, be it Manchester United last season in the Champions League or Tottenham Hotspur in the last round of the Europa League.
In the other tie Turkish side Fenerbahce Istanbul take on Benfica Lisboa from Portugal to determine the other finalist.
The semifinal matches will be played on April 25 and May 2 with the final on May 15 at the Amsterdam Arena in the Netherlands.
Semifinals Fenerbahçe SK - SL Benfica Lisboa FC Basel 1893 - Chelsea FC
In India they would say the only real version of hockey is field hockey, in Canada they would surely say ice hockey, while in other nations other forms of the game but over the last few weeks I have been following for my television work the sport of roller hockey or as it is also called Quad. And I have been finding it really a fascinating sport.
Here in our town of Remscheid we have a Bundesliga Roller Hockey team called IGR Remscheid and they over this weekend will play for the title of German Roller Hockey Cup champions against ERG Iserlohn in a home-and-away format.
In my research I found out that one of the biggest Roller Hockey clubs in the world is a certain FC Barcelona with another famous football side in SL Benfica Lisbon is also a top side in Europe with the sport being big in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Argentina.
Further I was able to find out that the sport is also played in India by both men and women, and really surprising was the fact that Calcutta actually hosted the Roller Hockey Asia Cup in 2007 with India winning the women's championship title, while the men came third.
Here a TV report from Roller Hockey training (in German)
Wikipedia says about Roller Hockey (Quad)
Roller Hockey (Quad) is a team sport that enjoys significant popularity in a number of Latin countries. Depending on territories, it is also known as Hóquei em Patins, International Style Ball hockey, Rink Hockey or Hardball Hockey. Roller Hockey was a demonstration rollersport in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. There have been many world championships, Latin countries dominating the sport since the 1940s: Portugal (15 World titles), Spain (14 World titles), Italy (4 World titles) and Argentina (4 World titles). Other countries, such as France, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Andorra and England are regular international competitors, but rarely overcome the traditional powers. Roller Hockey (Quad) was recently referred to as Hardball Hockey in the United States until November 2008 when the USOC adopted the sports more common name Rink Hockey.
The draw for the Semifinals for the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League was carried out yesterday in Nyon, Switzerland. And there are some mouth watering clashes coming.