LoI in Europe 2024

[pineapple stu]

Larne kicking off just now as well, 2-1 down from the away leg in Gibraltar against Lincoln Red Imps, but with every chance of making it through to the groups to be the first Nordy team through.

Still remember Linfield's incredible collapse a couple of years ago against the Latvians. Up there with Liverpool v Arsenal 1989 as an argument for running for the corner in the very last minute...

[ger121]

2-0 now.

The Kosovans 2-0 down still with a half to go, so you'd expect us to pass them out over the course of the league phase

Would want Legia to still win that match so no extra points for Kosovo before they bow out.

[Acornvilla]

Would want Legia to still win that match so no extra points for Kosovo before they bow out.
Ah yeah, I'm taking for granted Rovers do something in the league phase, you'd hope they finally win a game, or maybe you wouldn't :D

[ger121]

Ah yeah, I'm taking for granted Rovers do something in the league phase, you'd hope they finally win a game, or maybe you wouldn't :D

Say you are right with 7 games minimum left for them.

[pineapple stu]

Serbia's season continues well - TSC 2-0 down to Maccabi Tel Aviv inside 10 minutes. 5-0 on aggregate.

Though Red Star Belgrade did make the CL groups at least, which gives them a 6-point coefficient bonus.

[CorribsideSteve]

Very poor from Lopes there with that pass, and it almost cost them. Pohls again as last week making good saves early on.

[pineapple stu]

Larne go 1-0 down - so 3-1 now. Disaster there.

Result in Wales though - there'll be dancing on the streets of TNS tonight!

[Acornvilla]

Larne go 1-0 down - so 3-1 now. Disaster there.

Result in Wales though - there'll be dancing on the streets of TNS tonight!
Total Network Solutions for life!

[pineapple stu]

Larne go 1-0 down - so 3-1 now. Disaster there.
Two for Larne and they're back level at 3-3 by half-time.

Huge 45 minutes coming

[pineapple stu]

Rovers seem to have reached half-time scoreless but with no shots or corners - and livescore is saying 14% possession, which can hardly be right?

But those stats suggest one-way traffic.

[ger121]

Two for Larne and they're back level at 3-3 by half-time.

Huge 45 minutes coming

Good come back and it’s actually on tv!!

[ger121]

I see Celje won 4-1 on the night. Both down to 10 men before Celine finished the job with a brace.

So that means every team that Rovers faced in Europe this season has made the group stage. Could be drawn again against one of those two yet.

[ger121]

Larne down to 10 now.

[CorribsideSteve]

Poor passing matters at this level. Disappointing goal to concede. Pohls can only save so many chances.

[pineapple stu]

Larne down to 10 now.
But they score with five to go! 3-1 on the night now; 4-3 on aggregate.

They'd have been dreading extra time a man down, but a great chance to avoid that now.

2-0 to PAOK in Tallaght; Rovers sinking without trace there it seems. PAOK are a good team for sure, but when was the last time Bradley so much as laid a glove on a team of that calibre?

[ger121]

Not been good across the 2 legs for Rovers.

[ger121]

But they score with five to go! 3-1 on the night now; 4-3 on aggregate.

They'd have been dreading extra time a man down, but a great chance to avoid that now.

2-0 to PAOK in Tallaght; Rovers sinking without trace there it seems. PAOK are a good team for sure, but when was the last time Bradley so much as laid a glove on a team of that calibre?

What channel is it on PS? I have freeview but can’t find it.

[ger121]

2-0 to PAOK in Tallaght; Rovers sinking without trace there it seems. PAOK are a good team for sure, but when was the last time Bradley so much as laid a glove on a team of that calibre?

Gent maybe in 2022. Played well in that one against a side who have made Conference 4 years on the bounce. Not sure they are at PAOK levels but who knows..

[pineapple stu]

Which one - Rovers or Larne?

Either way, I'm really following livescore updates (while on a Zoom meeting...!)

[ger121]

Which one - Rovers or Larne?

Either way, I'm really following livescore updates (while on a Zoom meeting...!)

Sorry! Larne. Nobody wants to watch Rovers getting humped.

[Nesta99]

BBC NI Sports website. Larne were really starting to struggle until the goal. No nonsense blasted through the keeper by a tired looking striker that could do liitle moe than swing a leg at it.

Does open the question again of (relatively) small investment opening the way to European money and the chance to build in to higher competitions and more money.

[ger121]

Larne have done it. Be funny if we had an All Ireland match in the league stage of a European competition.

Looks like TNS in same pot as Rovers so can draw them too obviously.

[Nesta99]

Larne win. Nearly punished at the end, strange free kick, nice clean slide tackle clearance but defender daftly left a foot hanging so the Lincoln player managed to catch a boot about the knee ages after the clearance. Free header from the resulting free just put past the post. Lane were goosed if that had gone in as they were out on their feet by FT nevermind ET.

[oriel]

BBC NI Sports website. Larne were really starting to struggle until the goal. No nonsense blasted through the keeper by a tired looking striker that could do liitle moe than swing a leg at it.

Does open the question again of (relatively) small investment opening the way to European money and the chance to build in to higher competitions and more money.

The new structure helps hugely though, as long as a league winning club wins its first game in CL qualifier, its almost impossible not to make the group stages, certainly its an easier route.

If the Conf League was around late 10's, Dundalk would have prob made 1 or 2 more groups, and Cork City too in 2018.

Just look at the games / route Pats had in comparison this season, and harder games too.

That said full credit to Larne and TNS, that Euro map of 'associations not making a group stage' must be all coloured in now.

[Nesta99]

Sorry! Larne. Nobody wants to watch Rovers getting humped.

Rovers fetishists aside Im sure there are planty that would watch Rovers getting (t)humped, especially Bohs fans with no other football stream!?

[Nesta99]

The new structure helps hugely though, as long as a league winning club wins its first game in CL qualifier, its almost impossible not to make the group stages, certainly its an easier route.

If the Conf League was around late 10's, Dundalk would have prob made 1 or 2 more groups, and Cork City too in 2018.

Just look at the games / route Pats had in comparison this season, and harder games too.

That said full credit to Larne and TNS, that Euro map of 'associations not making a group stage' must be all coloured in now.

Yeah I agree, it makes even more sense for a P6 to lurk about. I know Larne have been bankrolled by a local and fan who made his fortune and invested in his club. But he has taken a basketcase with no significant success domestically to league titles and European groups. New competition and access, looking at such example, surely would pique the interest of those with enough finances to have a go in Loi/IL/Welsh short to medium term but not enough for for the English system obviously or Scots. I think this could herald a ne era of interest from 'investors'. Cobh Ramblers in the Conference league 2029....

[MichaelCherrito]

https://i.postimg.cc/KKKZ1nV5/IMG-2705.jpg (https://postimg.cc/KKKZ1nV5)

One from each pot. Three at Tallaght, three away from home.

[CorribsideSteve]

https://i.postimg.cc/KKKZ1nV5/IMG-2705.jpg (https://postimg.cc/KKKZ1nV5)

One from each pot. Three at Tallaght, three away from home.

Surely there's 5 or 6 points Rovers could pick up there. Most of Pots 1 and 2 are bigger, stronger, with better players, but they have somewhat of a decent chance with most of the teams in the other pots.

[pineapple stu]

Presume they can get Celje again, yeah?

Some rough clubs in pot 5. How are Panathanaikos seeded lower than Rovers for example?

[CorribsideSteve]

Presume they can get Celje again, yeah?

Some rough clubs in pot 5. How are Panathanaikos seeded lower than Rovers for example?
That jumped out at me at first, but a little research shows that they've made 2 Europa group stages in the last 8 years, where they lost most of their matches, and haven't been in the CL for 13 years. Re Celje, as far as I know, yeah they can get them, which woiuld be huge, knowing they've beaten them already.

[Acornvilla]

There's definitely an outside chance of a horror draw, where at best they'll get 1 result, but equally they could get a few of the likes of Larne, TNS, Helsinki, Petroclub, Djurgarden and LASK, and have a fighting shot at making the next phase

[pineapple stu]

Quick coefficient update as well actually - no real change this week as we lost both games, but it's obviously now confirmed which countries have sides in the groups. So from 31st down, we have -


31 Moldova 14.000 Petrocub (Conference)
32 Kosovo 12.041
33 Ireland 12.000 Rovers (Conference)
34 Armenia 11.500 Noah (Conference)
35 Iceland 11.333 Viking (Conference)
36 Latvia 11.250 RFS (Europa)
37 Finland 11.000 HJK (Conference)
38 Faroe Islands 10.750
39 Bosnia 10.250 Borac (Conference)
40 Kazakhstan 10.125 Astana (Conference)
41 Malta 8.500
42 Lithuania 8.250
43 Liechtenstein 8.000
44 Estonia 7.957
45 Albania 7.875
46 Northern Irl 7.833 Larne (Conference)
47 Montenegro 7.208
48 Luxembourg 6.875
49 Georgia 6.625
50 Wales 6.291 TNS (Conference)
51 North Macedonia 6.166
52 Belarus 5.500 Dinamo Minsk (Conference)
53 Andorra 5.498
54 Gibraltar 5.457
55 San Marino 2.498

We're not going to catch Moldova (who have Petrocub as fifth seeds in the Conference League). We would be very annoyed to not catch Kosovo - one point in the groups will do it. But Noah just need one win more than Rovers to pass us out; Viking, RFS and HJK would pass us out with two more wins than Rovers. (RFS are slightly screwed over here as they're in the Europa League, which is stronger. They do have two extra games though. But solely for coefficient reasons you'd have to want the Conference League groups. RFS should probably get a 3 point bonus for reaching the Europa League, like the CL qualifiers get a 6 point bonus). The Cup winners of the 33rd place team - Kosovo - started in the Europa League this year. (If we hold 33rd, it'd be next year's Cup winners I think, and not UCD as this year's Cup winners :) )

We're currently 29th for the year, though Scotland and Ukraine will almost certainly pass us out. Probably a couple of others too - Azerbaijan, Israel, maybe even Serbia.

Interestingly, Larne are in the groups having won just two games in Europe this season, and lost all the rest. Includes a bye in the Conference League.

Also worth noting the Youth League draw (with UCD) is on Tuesday. I presume there'll be regionalised pots, but for the moment all we know is the teams in the first round draw are -

Kazakhstan: Kairat
Slovenia: Maribor
Moldova: Academia Rebeja
Kosovo: Football Club 2 Korriku
Latvia: BFC Daugavpils
Republic of Ireland: UCD
Finland: Honka Espoo
Lithuania: Žalgiris
Armenia: Pyunik
Belarus: Dinamo Minsk
Bosnia and Herzegovina: FK Sarajevo
Luxembourg: Progrès Niederkorn
Faroe Islands: HB
Northern Ireland: Cliftonville
Malta: Valletta
Georgia: Dinamo Tbilisi
Estonia: Tallina Kalev
Iceland: Stjarnan
Albania: Futboll Klub Bylis
Wales: The New Saints
Gibraltar: Lincoln Red Imps
North Macedonia: AP Brera Strumica ?
Andorra: FC Santa Coloma
Montenegro: Budu?nost Podgorica

If we get to the second round, we could play the likes of Manchester United, Real Betis, Basel, Hoffenheim or 2023 champions Alkmaar

[pineapple stu]

That jumped out at me at first, but a little research shows that they've made 2 Europa group stages in the last 8 years, where they lost most of their matches, and haven't been in the CL for 13 years. Re Celje, as far as I know, yeah they can get them, which woiuld be huge, knowing they've beaten them already.
I would have thought just being in Europe every year would have been enough to see them ahead of Rovers, but they were actually banned from Europe for three years in the 5-year seeding timeline, and that's what really screws them.

Avoid avoid avoid!

[ger121]

I would have thought just being in Europe every year would have been enough to see them ahead of Rovers, but they were actually banned from Europe for three years in the 5-year seeding timeline, and that's what really screws them.

Avoid avoid avoid!

It would be a Greek tragedy. I’ll get my coat…

[yurt]

Given SR seeding is now at least 10.500 for next season it means they've a decent chance of being seeded all the way through to the conference league playoffs next season if they are in Europe.

9.760 was the cut off for seeding this season in the playoffs.

Am I right in saying that now that it's the competition proper it means the country co-efficient point double> So it's 0.500 for a win and 0.250 for a draw added the the country co-efficient for the season?

Excited to see this draw now, rovers due a little bit of luck draw wise at this stage. Few results for rovers will be massive for trying to secure EL football for cup winners over the next few years instead of just sneaking it for the one season in 26/27 (as is now fairly likely)

[pineapple stu]

Am I right in saying that now that it's the competition proper it means the country co-efficient point double> So it's 0.500 for a win and 0.250 for a draw added the the country co-efficient for the season?
Yep. Technically speaking, I guess it's the preliminary rounds that score half, but for the plebs like the LoI it looks the other way around!

[sbgawa]

For Rovers to improve their club coefficient we would have to score 3 points in the League stages (3 wins).
You get 2.5 points for making it to Groups but it is reset (you are guaranteed the 2.5 pts though) . I guess the thinking is that the clubs that are straight into Group stages dont earn Prelim points

[holidaysong]

For Rovers to improve their club coefficient we would have to score 3 points in the League stages (3 wins).
You get 2.5 points for making it to Groups but it is reset (you are guaranteed the 2.5 pts though) . I guess the thinking is that the clubs that are straight into Group stages dont earn Prelim points

It's 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw in the league phase, so just a win and draw required to get 3 points and improve on your 2.5 minimum.

[joey B]

Chelsea v Shamrock Rovers !!

[redobit]

Chelsea v Shamrock Rovers !!

Hi Shamrock. This is RTE here ... ...

[pateen]

Oh my god, the scum of the Earth.

Worst fans in London by a country mile. Only down the road from me, I'll be looking forward to that one.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Oh my god, the scum of the Earth.

Worst fans in London by a country mile. Only down the road from me, I'll be looking forward to that one.

Thought you were on about Shams initially

[2 Year Contract]

Oh my god, the scum of the Earth.

Worst fans in London by a country mile. Only down the road from me, I'll be looking forward to that one.

They certainly are. I’d advise locking your door until they return back to Tallaght after that game ;)

[pateen]

Thought you were on about Shams initially

Ha ha ... I could have been

[nigel-harps1954]

APOEL of Cyprus in Tallaght from Pot 2 wasn't the worst draw in that group. Maybe a point to prove for Jack Byrne there.

Rapid Vienna wasn't the one they'd have wanted from Pot 3 but a nice away trip for fans.

[pineapple stu]

So Chelsea (A), APOEL (H), Rapid (A), TNS (H), Borac Banja Luka (H) and Larne (A).

TNS and Larne the obvious targets there.

This draw is even more drawn out than even before...

[joey B]

TNS at home and Larne away for Rovers ,great draw tbf …

[nigel-harps1954]

The New Saints in Tallaght and Larne away!

What a draw.

[2 Year Contract]

Jesus, they couldnt have asked for much more from that draw

[El-Pietro]

No difficult away trips, home to TNS and away to Larne. They have to feel good about their chances of picking up a couple of wins.
Only disappointing thing is not getting any really exciting exotic trip but Chelsea probably makes up for that.

Assume the only game where they will have issues getting tickets would be Larne