Bruce was unaware that his goal had already sparked discussions around the world. At that moment, he was still preparing with his team for the upcoming Scottish Premier League.
Dundee United had been the Scottish FA Cup champions last season and would theoretically be eligible to participate in the Super Cup. However, the Scottish league is unique in that it does not have a Super Cup competition.
The Scottish league originally had a Super Cup, but during World War II, football leagues across various European countries were suspended. After the war, when leagues resumed, Scottish teams disputed who should qualify for the Super Cup. As a result, the competition was temporarily suspended for several decades, and the Scottish league has not had a Super Cup since.
This is also characteristic of smaller leagues in Europe. Compared with the top five leagues, smaller leagues often feature special competition formats.
One key reason is that smaller leagues usually have fewer participating teams. If they followed the top-five-league format—a simple double round-robin home-and-away system—the number of matches per season would be very small. This is neither attractive to fans nor helpful for league teams competing in European competitions.
Playing too few matches makes it difficult for teams to maintain their form, putting them at a natural disadvantage in European competitions.
For example, the Scottish Premiership has only 12 teams. With a simple double round-robin format, there would be only 22 rounds of league matches each season. While other teams play one match per week, Scottish teams would play only once every two weeks. How could they maintain their form under such conditions?
Therefore, smaller leagues across Europe have developed unique competition formats to increase the number of matches. Currently, the most common format is the regular season play-off system. After two rounds of round-robin play, teams are divided into championship and relegation groups based on points, and then play championship and relegation play-offs, respectively. This ensures that the total number of rounds is similar to that of the top five European leagues.
However, the format of the Scottish league is quite different from that of other smaller leagues. The Scottish Premiership uses a three-round robin system, with each team playing three matches against each of the other 11 teams, resulting in 33 rounds of matches.
After these three rounds, the top six teams enter the championship group, while the bottom six teams enter the relegation group. Each group then plays an additional round, meaning each team plays five more rounds.
In total, there are 38 rounds of matches, with the team accumulating the most points crowned champion and the team with the fewest points relegated.
The format is somewhat unusual. It seems as if the Scottish Football Association deliberately designed it to ensure a season has 38 rounds, aligning it with the Premier League.
Although the Scottish league is the only one in the world to use a three-round-robin format, it is not the most unconventional. Many football associations worldwide have quirky systems.
For instance, the Austrian league uses a four-round cycle. This is understandable since there are only 10 teams, and the four-round cycle results in 36 rounds—two fewer than the 38 rounds typical of a standard league.
Major League Soccer (MLS) is quite unique. Its format is heavily inspired by the NBA, with the league divided into East and West conferences. As a result, American teams play one game against some opponents, two against others, and three against yet others.
When MLS was first established, the U.S. Soccer Federation introduced an unusual rule: every game had to have a winner, supposedly to increase excitement. If a match was tied after 90 minutes, it would immediately go into a "one-on-one battle."
In this format, each team selects five players, who dribble the ball from outside the penalty area and face the opposing goalkeeper one-on-one, with a shot on goal to be taken within five seconds.
It must be said that the U.S. Soccer Federation has quite the imagination, creating a new twist on the penalty shootout format: the one-on-one battle.
Originally, the U.S. Soccer Federation aimed to promote this format worldwide, but in the end, it not only failed to gain traction internationally, but Major League Soccer itself also abolished this unusual game.
If there is anyone in the world who can rival the U.S. Soccer Federation in eccentricity, the Argentine Football Association is certainly one of them.
The Argentine league uses a dual points system, with points for the championship and points for promotion and relegation calculated separately.
In simple terms, the championship is decided by the total points accumulated over the season, which is no different from the standard method used in most football leagues.
However, the Argentine Football Association has its own unique—and some might say "ingenious"—approach regarding promotion and relegation points: it calculates the average points of each team over the past five seasons, with the three teams with the lowest averages being relegated.
According to the Argentine Football Association, this method is fairer and prevents strong teams from being relegated simply because they had a poor season.
The Argentine Football Association was quite proud of itself, believing it had developed a groundbreaking calculation method that had never before appeared in world football, and that Argentine football had made history.
But they overlooked one crucial point: while this method can indeed prevent strong teams from being relegated after a bad season, it can also cause teams that have been struggling to avoid relegation for years to suddenly rise to prominence in a particular season, achieve excellent results, and then be relegated.
The most obvious example is the "miracle" that occurred in the Argentine league: a team that had been fighting relegation every year suddenly became wealthy this season, brought in strong reinforcements, achieved good results, qualified for the Copa Libertadores the next season—and then was relegated.
The reason for this relegation is tied to how average points are calculated. Newly promoted teams are only measured based on their performance in a single season, whereas the average points of existing teams are calculated over five seasons. This lowered their average points and caused their relegation. (If average points for all promoted teams were calculated over five seasons, it would be nearly impossible for them to avoid relegation.)
As a result, something remarkable occurred: a team could qualify for an intercontinental competition yet be relegated from its domestic league. And this isn't a once-in-a-century anomaly—it can be witnessed every few years.
In the most extreme scenario, a team might even win the league title in a given season and still face relegation.
While the likelihood of such an event is extremely low, it is not entirely impossible. If it ever happens, the Argentine league will undoubtedly achieve the level of global attention the Argentine Football Association hopes for—a worldwide phenomenon.
It must be said that the Argentine Football Association has indeed made history; they are truly unparalleled.
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On Saturday, August 14, 2010, the 2010/11 Scottish Premiership season officially kicked off.
Dundee United's first league match was an away game against St. Mirren, a mid-to-lower table team that barely avoided relegation last season in the final round.
Bruce was undoubtedly included in the squad and traveled with the team for the away game, but he did not start and came on as a substitute in the second half.
However, Bruce's league debut was not very successful. He did deliver two good crosses during the half-hour he was on the field, but his teammates failed to capitalize on them. In the end, Dundee United drew 1-1 with St. Mirren away from home, failing to secure all three points.
It was clear that St. Mirren had learned something from Liverpool, specifically assigning physically strong defenders to mark Bruce, which greatly limited his opportunities to make an impact.
Bruce couldn't help but recall that, before the league began, head coach Peter Houston had spoken with him privately—and what the coach said was indeed accurate:
"My body is still too frail."
In the British Isles, there are relatively few technically gifted players, but plenty with rough technique and muscular builds. Bruce's current physique was indeed unlikely to withstand the physical demands of the league. If your body can't handle it, even the greatest technical talent will be diminished.