A couple of weeks ago when Scottish clubs had another, now very familiar, disastrous night in the first qualifying round of the Europa League one of the suggested solutions by the football commentators, and coaches, was that Scotland "has to" revert to a summer league. This will ensure the Scottish teams are in competitive mode when they play Northern European opposition in the early rounds of the Europa and Champions League.
Today, Malmo, not a giant of European football but a consistent performer that qualified for the Champions League group stage three times in the last 5 years and currently top of the league in Sweden, were knocked out of the second qualifying round of the Champions League by Vardar. Who? That's Vardar, the Macedonian champions of a league that runs from August to May. It's only one example and hardly debunks the Scottish theory, but it does put offer a bit of a contradiction to it.
The Champions of Sweden, in the middle of their season in a country with a strong football tradition beaten by the champions of Macedonia who are in pre-season.
Scottish football may just have to come to the same realisation as Maltese football: it's just not very good.
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