League of Ireland in Europe 2015

[El-Pietro]

I'd fancy Pats to be the only team from LOI to get through one round
Pats and Rovers will both get through. We have a shot.

[Dodge]

I'd fancy Pats to be the only team from LOI to get through one round

I think Pats are most likely to lose in the first round. Definitely of the Europa teams.

Fully expect the other 3 to win

[pineapple stu]

Fully expect the other 3 to win
Really?

Dudelange knocked out Red Bull Salzburg a couple of years ago. They've done feck all in Europe since, but they've three or four very experienced (Luxembourg) internationals. Their keeper has 70 caps, for example.

We're very much second favourites I think. Would like it if we kept our unbeaten home European record going, but winning the tie is still a long shot.

[PartySaint]

Cork and Rovers to go through.

UCD to go out

Really do know about Pats, going to be tight, hopefully get an away goal and keep it tight coming back to Richmond

[nigel-harps1954]

Beyond the realms of possibility that everyone will get through? When's the last time every League of Ireland team got through a round each on the same year? Pie in the sky stuff, but you just never know.

I'd expect Cork and Shamrock Rovers have the best chances, but UCD in Luxembourg should be interesting, hard to know with Pat's but their European pedigree of recent years should stand to them. Dundalk against BATE should be a real cracker, I'd certainly hope RTE or Setanta cover it anyway.

[CuanaD]

Beyond the realms of possibility that everyone will get through? When's the last time every League of Ireland team got through a round each on the same year? Pie in the sky stuff, but you just never know.

I'd expect Cork and Shamrock Rovers have the best chances, but UCD in Luxembourg should be interesting, hard to know with Pat's but their European pedigree of recent years should stand to them. Dundalk against BATE should be a real cracker, I'd certainly hope RTE or Setanta cover it anyway.
RTE won't - they never can be bothered, Setanta just might, and don't be surprised if UTVIreland were interested

[PartySaint]

I see UCD are playing their game in the Bowl, great news for them.

[pineapple stu]

Yup.

And flights to Luxembourg the day before the game are now E500+! :eek:

I presume the team have just block booked.

[gufcfan]

And flights to Luxembourg the day before the game are now E500+! :eek:

I presume the team have just block booked.

Charleroi is 2 hours drive from Dudelange. Frankfurt isn't much further. Same for Baden-Baden.

"Paris" Vatry might be an option as well, two hours drive, but dunno what transport links are like.

[pineapple stu]

Drive and European trip and drink.

What's wrong with this picture?

Going to fly to Charleroi and get the train the rest of the way. Still a four-hour journey, surprisingly. Compared to 30 minutes from Luxembourg City.

Anyways. First world problems.

[nigel-harps1954]

https://twitter.com/fcpn_officiel/status/613056083091922944

Shamrock Rovers trip to Luxembourg looking like being just 8 days away..

[White Horse]

Drive and European trip and drink.

What's wrong with this picture?

Going to fly to Charleroi and get the train the rest of the way. Still a four-hour journey, surprisingly. Compared to 30 minutes from Luxembourg City.

Anyways. First world problems.

When we played in Luxembourg last year, I flew into Charleroi and got a coach from the airport to Lux city. It worked out great.

[OldNassau]

Flights to Luxembourg with Luxair
Dublin to Lux Dep 1.20 on July 9th returning July 10th 11.35 €305
Stadium in Dulange reachable by train takes about 35 min
Airport to Lux Railway to Bettemburg to Dulange.
By Car 24min
By Bus 52min

[pineapple stu]

A 22-hour trip? Where's the fun in that?!

[TonyD]

I'd be more than surprised if UTV were in the slightest bit interested in showing Dundalk. Setanta covered Pats in Warsa last year so I'd say they might cover it. Poxy draw for them, with Bates recent champions league form. Hard to believe Bohs were knocking them out of europe little more than ten years ago. Tough enough draw for Pats too I'd say, though not beyond us if we perform as we can. If we play in Richmond it should help too.

[bennocelt]

Was going to see Shamrock Rovers, but if its moved to the Tuesday then I cant get time off work, goddammit i might just have to see UCD then. The bourg is three and a bit hours away from Basel by train. At least wifey is happy, not going to cost that much. Perhaps Pineapple stu would bring me over a scarf?:)

[pineapple stu]

A ucd scarf? Can do if you want. PM me and I'll sort you

[Duffman]

I used a company called Flibco coach a few years ago to get to an early Charleroi flight, all boring belgian floodlit motorway but very handy and cheap as chips too, something to bear in mind for those Lux travellers

[OldNassau]

A 22-hour trip? Where's the fun in that?!
Flight is leaving on 9th July at 1.20 arriving at 16.05 RETURNING the following day at 11.35!!!!!

[Louth4sam]

We did a night in Brussels and then on to Luxembourg the next day on the train. Flew back direct with Luxair. They were great to fly with and worth paying the extra money for

[D24Saint]

I'd say a fair few Rovers fans got caught.

[mypost]

Beyond the realms of possibility that everyone will get through? When's the last time every League of Ireland team got through a round each on the same year.

Last happened in the mid-noughties iirc.

[holidaysong]

For guys going to Luxembourg, Luxair have a sale on their site 23rd June (tomorrow) to celebrate Luxembourg national day until 9am at €129 return.

[nigel-harps1954]

All match dates confirmed for Europa League

Europa League First Qualifying Round

Tuesday, June 30
FC Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) v Shamrock Rovers

Thursday, July 2
Skonto Riga (LVA) v St Patrick's Athletic
Cork City FC v KR Reykjavik (ISL)
UCD v F91 Dudelange (LUX)

Tuesday, July 7
Shamrock Rovers v FC Progrès Niederkorn (LUX)

Thursday, July 9
St Patrick's Athletic v Skonto Riga (LVA)
KR Reykjavik (ISL) v Cork City
F91 Dudelange (LUX) v UCD


Going to try take in a game or two, possibly UCD and Rovers home legs.

[pineapple stu]

Flight is leaving on 9th July at 1.20 arriving at 16.05 RETURNING the following day at 11.35!!!!!
Yes, that's a 22-hour trip. I plan on seeing a bit of the country as well like.

[D24Saint]

Ryanair up to their usual tricks flights to Riga shot up but still looks a decent crowd heading to the game over a hundred at least not bad with a weeks notice.

[seand]

If going to Lux via Charleroi, which is a pretty cheap options, google flibco for buses, as mentioned above. You can book online, about 20quid and 2.5 hours each way. Very regualr service, and they're flexible if you want to change the time of the bus you've booked.

[pineapple stu]

Much prefer going by train where I can. :) Easy enough to do in central Europe in fairness.

I see Go Ahead Eagles are in Europe for the first time in 50 years - but they've drawn Ferencvaros, who have a stadium ban, so all Go Ahead Eagles fans are banned from going to the game too! That's harsh.

[D24Saint]

I see Go Ahead Eagles are in Europe for the first time in 50 years - but they've drawn Ferencvaros, who have a stadium ban, so all Go Ahead Eagles fans are banned from going to the game too! That's harsh.

that's the beauty of following a LOI club that happened to us in Romania v Steaua but any fans interested were just put on the VIP list which can accommodate up 100 or so club officials.

[geysir]

Are there good reasons why the EL draw can't be made weeks earlier?

[seand]

Are there good reasons why the EL draw can't be made weeks earlier?

The reason is the licencing process, for which they allow a couple of weks after the end of the August-May season. But you're right,there's no good reason. Surely we could have the draw 3-4 weeks ahead of the first round, with a big caveat that it's subject to licencing. If a club did fail to get a licence another club in the same country is going to replace them anyway

[pineapple stu]

Maybe licencing. Dynamo Moscow were only denied a licence there last week. I think the last of the teams to qualify was confirmed about three weeks ago, so maybe there's a buffer to allow for issues with licences to be sorted.

[Yossarian]

Are there good reasons why the EL draw can't be made weeks earlier?

Some of the European leagues have only finished two weeks ago, so it couldn't have been done before then.

[D24Saint]

Are there good reasons why the EL draw can't be made weeks earlier?

Infantino is on holidays.Its farcical giving clubs with limited resources a week to organise travel it just goes to show the disconnect between Europe's top brass and the grassroots.

[GCdfc]

Yup.

And flights to Luxembourg the day before the game are now E500+! :eek:

I presume the team have just block booked.

5 of us flew to Frankfurt last year and hired a Passat estate and drove. Flights, 2 nights accommodation, car hire and diesel cost €300 in total each.

[Louth4sam]

Ryanair up to their usual tricks flights to Riga shot up but still looks a decent crowd heading to the game over a hundred at least not bad with a weeks notice.

Don't forget to clear your cache or go incognito when booking flights with Ryanair

[geysir]

Some of the European leagues have only finished two weeks ago, so it couldn't have been done before then.
Which league is that, I thought all competitions had to be wrapped up before the end of May?

[nigel-harps1954]

A lot of league play-offs run into June. I believe Italian side Parma were just relegated to Serie D via play-off at the weekend there.

[geysir]

A lot of league play-offs run into June. I believe Italian side Parma were just relegated to Serie D via play-off at the weekend there.
I think the Serie A top half placing were sorted out in May and even Genoa's failure (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2460904-genoas-failure-to-receive-uefa-license-shakes-up-italys-europa-league-race)to gain a licence was known mid May (after an appeal).
The Dutch have a complicated play-off system but that's also done and dusted in May.

[Dodge]

Polish and Greek leagues ended on 7th June

http://ie.soccerway.com/national/poland/ekstraklasa/20142015/championship-round/r25659/
http://ie.soccerway.com/national/greece/super-league/20142015/clel-play-offs/r26691/

Might have been the odd cup final after that.

Even if it's explainable, it's still very hard for poor clubs to organise these games at 8-10 days notice

[geysir]

The reason is the licencing process, for which they allow a couple of weks after the end of the August-May season. But you're right,there's no good reason. Surely we could have the draw 3-4 weeks ahead of the first round, with a big caveat that it's subject to licencing. If a club did fail to get a licence another club in the same country is going to replace them anyway
If it is the licensing that's the definite cause of this induced travelling arrangement crisis, then you couldn't really just have the draw a week earlier and fill in a few gaps with replacements, there could well be an unfair advantage due to the seeding or non seeding place that was allocated for the replacement.
Then there could be a gross disadvantage to find out that instead of travelling to Istanbul, your club will have to haul it to Trabzon, due to the Istanbul club failing a licensing issue.
The only way that comes to mind is that there are no replacements allowed after the end of May and some fortunate club gets the prize money and a bye into the next round.

[Dodge]

Beyond the realms of possibility that everyone will get through? When's the last time every League of Ireland team got through a round each on the same year? Pie in the sky stuff, but you just never know.


The only time it's happened was in 2006
Cork beat Appollon Limassol (Cyprus) in the CL
Derry beat Gothenburg & Gretna in the UEFA
Drogheda beat HJK Helsinki in the UEFA
Shels beat Vetra (Lithuania) in the inter toto

in 2008, Drogheda (CL), Pats (UEFA) and Bohs (IT) won. Cork lost to Haka (Finland) in the EL.

Last year Sligo, Derry and Dundalk all won in the EL. Pats lost in the CL

They're the 3 years were 3 or more LOI clubs progressed

[colonelwest]

A lot of league play-offs run into June. I believe Italian side Parma were just relegated to Serie D via play-off at the weekend there.

Parma were administratively relegated to Serie D which is the highest amateur league as they've gone completely into liquidation after having about 5 owners this season alone.

Italian season usually starts and ends late into end of May/ start of June depending on WC/ EC years.

[ForzaHoop]

Any word on any of the Games being televised, you think this would be a great option for RTE/SETANTA as no other soccer on TV

[Dodge]

Any word on any of the Games being televised, you think this would be a great option for RTE/SETANTA as no other soccer on TV

RTE won't show any Irish football in GAA season. No chance.

Setanta will only show it if they can piggy back on someone else's coverage (as they did with Pats v Legia last year). Realistically, Belarus TV showing Dundalk is the likeliest way of them coming into the market

[Yossarian]

Any Derry fans here who travelled to Belarus last year? I'm trying to suss out the best way to go and what the story is with visas and that. Any info will be much appreciated.

[a.a.d]

I traveled with the club on the charter, others did travel independently with a stop over before going on to Minsk. As regards to visas, they have to be applied for through the embassy in London and as with the majority of embassy's they can be an absolute nightmare to get a hold of on the phone to see how your application is getting on. The club had to send a representative to the embassy to drop off all the Visa applications and then back on a different day to get them back, so even for the team it wasn't the easiest of jobs to get done.

[Dunny]

BATE still havent told Dundalk what day/date the 1st tie will be played on which is understandably making a lot of our fans irate and frustrated.

[Dodge]

BATE still havent told Dundalk what day/date the 1st tie will be played on which is understandably making a lot of our fans irate and frustrated.

Pats / Legia wasn't confirmed for about a week last year too. Frustrating

[DannyInvincible]

BATE still havent told Dundalk what day/date the 1st tie will be played on which is understandably making a lot of our fans irate and frustrated.

Is the choice of date between the 14th and 15th of July entirely the home club's? If so, by when do they have to finalise a decision?