A Round-up of some of Europe’s Lesser-Cared-About Cups & Leagues
du Nord, April 24, 2009
Justin Paul tells us about some lesser known Cup competitions & leagues in Europe that are quickly building to their seasonal conclusions, and teaches us a few cultural things along the way.Let’s begin with the Coupe de France shall we, the Rennes-Guingamp final-- this will be an all-Brittany match up and should be a lot of fun. En Avant Guingamp were the team that gave Didier Drogba his real push, 20 goals in 45 games is what got him noticed by Marseille. (Rennes is the team of USA defender Carlos Bocanegra.)Another Brittany side has won the Coupe de France fairly recently, Lorient FC (the side sporting a cardboard stand with a painted crowd behind one goal at present) did so in 2001 over SC Bastia.Looking back to that earlier era, Nantes is another historic Breton city, whose football club won Coupe de France in 2000 over part-timers Racing Calais. But they are officially part of the Pays de La Loire Region these days, and Nantes fans are probably still trying to recover from the confusion of the actions o