Reuters Soccer Blog

Shakhtar win is fitting end for UEFA Cup

The way the UEFA Cup has been going, it was fitting, perhaps even inevitable, that Shakhtar Donetsk triumphed over Werder Bremen to win the competition’s final final before its rebranding as the Europa League.

As Sonia Oxley pointed out, Easter European teams have been the ones taking it seriously of late, and as Justin Palmer noted, the Brazilian influence on the competition has been getting ever stronger. Werder were missing Diego and it showed, as they searched in vain for inspiration after falling behind for a second time. Shakhtar, of course, have far the greater Brazilian contingent.

We’ll have more on this later but for now, click here for our full report, here for reaction and here for a great slideshow of photos.

And as someone who was based in Germany for a long time, I must just spare a thought for Tim Wiese, who had another European night to forget.

PHOTO: Shakhtar Donetsk celebrate with the UEFA Cup trophy after defeating Werder Bremen in final soccer match at Sukru Saracoglu stadium in Istanbul May 20, 2009. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

Ronaldo’s medal nothing to get over-excited about

Ronaldo was not surprisingly delighted to lay hands on a winner’s medal so soon after returning from last year’s knee injury but even he probably knows deep down that it is not that much to get excited about.

Ronaldo’s performances for Corinthians have already started talk of a Brazil recall — he has not played for his country since the 2006 World Cup — and national team coach Dunga was in the crowd when Corinthians held Santos 1-1 to win the Paulista championship on Sunday.

But what exactly is the Paulista championship? The format of the Brazilian season often baffles outsiders and maybe this is a chance to put it into context.

For the last few years, the country has run a conventional league — usually known simply enough as the Brasileirao (literally the Big Brazilian) featuring 20 teams who play each other home and away in the conventional style.

It is preceded, however, by the regional championships, one for each of Brazils 27 states. These tournaments are based on politics rather than any footballing logic.

They have been around since early 1900s when a national championship was inviable but have survived the advent of air travel and all attempts to remove them.

Each state has its own federation who in turn choose the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Therefore, abolishing these tournaments would be electoral suicide for Ricardo Teixeiro, who has held the post since 1989.