LOI In Europe 2025

[pineapple stu]

There is a UCD Women's team separately. There's some link - I think Waves took over full UCD when they dropped out of the Women's League. And Waves are backed by DLR Council (also a sponsor of UCD) and play in the Bowl. But they're different clubs - I'd say the player base is where you'd see that most clearly

[WoodquayBoy]

There is a UCD Women's team separately. There's some link - I think Waves took over full UCD when they dropped out of the Women's League. And Waves are backed by DLR Council (also a sponsor of UCD) and play in the Bowl. But they're different clubs - I'd say the player base is where you'd see that most clearly

Ah. Thanks for that.

[2 Year Contract]

Be interesting to see what sort of away crowd Besiktas bring on Thursday. There’s a big enough Turkish population here and they’re one of the big 3 clubs over there. Had a look at their instagram and just to give people an insight into the size of their support, they’ve got 7.5 million followers, compared to Celtic's 1m or Newcastle's 3.2m. Mad stuff altogether! Can see them having a minimum of 1k I'd say

[pateen]

Some goal by Mulranny

[2 Year Contract]

Some goal by Mulranny
He’s owned up to it being a cross. If I was him I don’t think I would’ve though!

[ger121]

I was talking about the athlone women's game on saturday lol

Oops, lol

[Martinho II]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-FJHhL5z4

Here you go

Cracker of a game. Mad commentators could do with them in our league! LOL!!

[sidewayspasser]

Athlone women's team are 3 up at half time.

[Strongbow10]

Athlone win again. 3-0 with 2 or 3 disallowed goals aswell. They were tired after their second game in 3 or 4 days, but got the job done, they look very strong. Another sell out too. Icelandic champions next I believe.

[yurt]

Have an Irish team come through this first round of the champions league before? Can't remember any off the top of my head.

Will probably drop a few places before the season finishes but the couple of wins has boosted the wLOI from 35th to 19th. I think it's the top 17 leagues that get a second european so this will be a realistic target in the coming years. The top 30 automatically go through to round 2 as well so will be a big help to next years champions.

[2 Year Contract]

Potential opponents for the draws today: https://www.leagueofireland.ie/news/potential-play-opponents-loi-teams-europe-revealed/

Some really really handy games for shels in the Conference League playoff round. Some very difficult ones for Rovers in it, and for Pats, the options are all a lot easier than Besiktas but it’s more or less an irrelevant draw because there’s no chance they go through that tie

[brendy_éire]

Some really really handy games for shels in the Conference League playoff round. Some very difficult ones for Rovers in it, and for Pats, the options are all a lot easier than Besiktas but it’s more or less an irrelevant draw because there’s no chance they go through that tie

Shels would be delighted with that. Assuming that it's the unseeded teams who lose their matches, it's Egnatia and KuPS would could possibly cause problems.
We beat KuPS two years ago, but there was nothing between the two sides. They'll also have to play their game 300km away in Tampere.

All Rovers ones are stinkers. In that position, I'd just hope to get Santa Clara. You'll get a cracking, unique away to trip to São Miguel.

[2 Year Contract]

Shels would be delighted with that. Assuming that it's the unseeded teams who lose their matches, it's Egnatia and KuPS would could possibly cause problems.
We beat KuPS two years ago, but there was nothing between the two sides. They'll also have to play their game 300km away in Tampere.

All Rovers ones are stinkers. In that position, I'd just hope to get Santa Clara. You'll get a cracking, unique away to trip to São Miguel.

And Santa Clara it is for rovers. Shels more or less qualified for the conference league now after drawing the winners of Vikingur of Faroe Islands or Linfield again. Pats (Besiktas) drew the winner of Lausanne (Switzerland) or Astana (Kazakhstan)

[total hoofball]

Very happy with those potential draws for Shels I still hope we can do the business against Rijeka but if that doesn't happen potentially Linfield again would be incredible

[brendy_éire]

And Santa Clara it is for rovers. Shels more or less qualified for the conference league now after drawing the winners of Vikingur of Faroe Islands or Linfield again. Pats (Besiktas) drew the winner of Lausanne (Switzerland) or Astana (Kazakhstan)

Best draws possible, I suppose.
I wouldn't go as far to say Shels are "more or less qualified", but they've an excellent chance. They only beat Linfield 2-1, mind.
Maybe Rovers will feel as if they have a chance too? They finished fifth in Liga Portugal last year, will be out of season, and maybe complacent. Properly jealous of the away trip though. I'd certainly recommend staying for a few days, hiring a car, and seeing the island. It's an unusual place.

[ger121]

Shels have a very good chance. Rovers got as best they could out of the mini group they were in. I think Larne could push Santa Clara.
They tend to do well in Europe in recent years.
Pat’s definitely got an awful 3rd round draw when you look at the 2 potential opponents in the PO Round.

Chance of 2 sides in the League Phase so all to play for.

[EatYerGreens]

Best draws possible, I suppose.
I wouldn't go as far to say Shels are "more or less qualified", but they've an excellent chance. They only beat Linfield 2-1, mind.
Maybe Rovers will feel as if they have a chance too? They finished fifth in Liga Portugal last year, will be out of season, and maybe complacent. Properly jealous of the away trip though. I'd certainly recommend staying for a few days, hiring a car, and seeing the island. It's an unusual place.

Shels need to avoid complacency if they play Linield again. They should be well able to beat them over 2 legs, but only won last month by 2-1 - and that was against a Linfield team who were out of season. Their match fitness will be better in 3/4 weeks time.

They'd probably want to not be complacent about Vikingur either btw :D

Who's at home first if Shels get through to the next round?

[2 Year Contract]

Agree with the above on Santa Clara, definitely the best tie rovers could’ve got from a very tough unseeded grouping of teams. Outside of Sporting, Benfica, Porto and Braga, Portuguese clubs aren’t anything near their league’s coefficient as 7th best in Europe, they’re massively carried by those 4 clubs in that regard, much like Scotland is by Celtic and Rangers. I think Rovers could definitely put it up to them

[ger121]

Agree with the above on Santa Clara, definitely the best tie rovers could’ve got from a very tough unseeded grouping of teams. Outside of Sporting, Benfica, Porto and Braga, Portuguese clubs aren’t anything near their league’s coefficient as 7th best in Europe, they’re massively carried by those 4 clubs in that regard, much like Scotland is by Celtic and Rangers. I think Rovers could definitely put it up to them

I’ve been to games in Portugal and the gulf in class outside the top 3-4 teams in huge. Would remind you of countries such as Scotland or the Netherlands in that respect.

Not sure if any of you listen to the Sweeper podcast but they love Santa Clara because they are based in the Azores but have played in the top flight on and off (more off) in the last couple of decades.

Was never going to be a cake walk for Rovers come through the league path, even seeded. The draw was full of land mines on the PO round.

[sbgawa]

We will get a good idea of how good they are after the larne match

[placid casual]

The difference in draw opponents between Shels and Rovers only reinforces the belief that the LOI champions should in all honesty get into Group stages every year - If shels mess it up it's their own fault.
Agree about the drop in quality in Liga Portugal outside the top 4 but it remains technically far,far superior to LOI football imo.
Let's hope (a) Rovers can get past Balkani and (b) Larne do us a favour:)

[sbgawa]

If we win the league this year , which we should now we will most likely be seeded in round 1 and 2 of the Champions league next year.
Without some bad luck we really should be making groups
Below are the unseeded teams from rounds 1 and 2 this year in the Champios path.
Rovers would have to win these two rounds to guarantee Group stages without having to rely on a softish draw in the PO round which you will get anyway as thats the nature of the champions path.





1st Round





Inter Club 'dEscaldes
AND
7.5


Shkendija Tetovo

Mac
7.5


Levadia Tallinn

Est
6.5


Dinamo Minsk

BLS
6.5


Hamrun Spartans

MLT
6


Milsami Orhei

MOL
5.5


Kairat Almaty

Kaz
5.5


FC Noah


ARM
5


Differdange 03

LUX
5


Iberia 1999

GEO
4.5


Vikingur


Far
4


Shelbourne

Ire
2.993


Egnatia Rrogozhine

ALB
2.5


AC Virtus


SMA
1.5









2nd Round





NK RIJEKA

Cro
12


Hamrun Spartans

MLT
12


Pafos


CYP
11.125


RFS Riga


Lat
11


Zrinjski Mostar

BOS
10


Lincoln red imps

GIB
10


KUPS


Fin
10


Shkendija

MAC
9


FC Drita


KOS
9


Breidablik

ISL
9


Shelbourne

IRL
8.5


FC Noah


ARM
8.5



Only 4 non seeds highlighted above won in the first round Shels over Linfield, Shkendija over Welsh club TNS, FC Noah over the lowest seeded team in round 1 Buducnsst (MON) and Hamrun Spartnas over Zalgris from Lituania.

Seeding is Huge

[brendy_éire]

The difference in draw opponents between Shels and Rovers only reinforces the belief that the LOI champions should in all honesty get into Group stages every year - If shels mess it up it's their own fault.

Agreed. It should be the exception that the league champions don't qualify.

[Acornvilla]

I do think we're heading that way, the league co eff position has a pretty hard ceiling, but there is still some room for improvement as time progresses, if champions keep qualifying and picking up points in group stages who knows what's possible, other smaller leagues can do the same of course, but maybe we've gotten a bit of a head start in that regard. Shels have the opportunity to make major strides for both themselves and the league if they do make the groups. They really should, and I would give Rovers a fighting chance, experience and match fitness will play its part if they get to the PO, which they should expect themselves to.

It's tough to know how much of an addition the Europa league spot will be if any because it is markedly more difficult that the ECL, and might on average be harder than the Champions league rnd 1 unless you're seeded like Rovers or lucky to get a minnow like Shels. Outside of Rovers, maybe only someone like Pat's could be seeded in rnd 1 if they won the cup. Extra money aside we might just have teams jumping in there to lose two legs, and praying for a kind ECL rnd 2 draw.

I think there is scope for individual clubs co efficient to improve quite a bit, or at least for the leagues to be at a point where all of out teams are always seeded in ECL rnd 1. Not many will ever reach what Rovers have done, and the champions route is such an advantage in that regard, but we could see other clubs getting themselves in to the ECL 3rd round yearly over the next while with the nature of how weak the first couple of rounds of the ECL can be. Pat's are making a solid fist of building their ranking up over a prolonged period. They've had 1 bad season in 4? hitting P0 or 3rd round the other 3 seasons, they have to qualify again ofc but that's the sort of form that would see a team seeded in the first 2 rounds every year in the long term

Rnd 3 onwards will forever be extremely difficult in any competition no matter how well the league does, but it's nice to see a relatively solid baseline being built, hopefully it can be sustained. Having 4 clubs next year would be a good start :D

[Nesta99]

What's Rovers co-efficient, Projected best case within reason too. Im being lazy, I could look it up myself...

[Acornvilla]

What's Rovers co-efficient, Projected best case within reason too. Im being lazy, I could look it up myself...
If Rovers repeated what they did last season, 5 years in a row they'd be in the top 50. That kind of craic would probably see you seeded the whole way through Champions league qualifying.

I think CL rnd 2 will always have a few landmines no matter how high your ranking is thou. There can even be the odd dodgy Rnd 1 draw.

This year if they only make it to the PO round and lose they will get about 2.5 points or so? Nothing major, but it's not a bad return by the leagues standards generally. They got just under 10 points last season for comparison. I think Making the groups can be largely expected of a champion, but last year should probably be treated as the exception not the rule in terms of how well the groups can go once you're in them!

There has never been a better time to be a LOI club regularly qualifying for Europe

[sbgawa]

What's Rovers co-efficient, Projected best case within reason too. Im being lazy, I could look it up myself...

17.88 and rising to 18.38 next year even if we lose to Balkani as the 5th oldest year in our ranking this year is only 1.5 points and we are guaranteed 2 points this year alraedy
On the LOI central podcast this a.m Dan McDonnal was saying its not impossible that Rovers (but not likely) could get a bye through the first round next year.
This year they would have been the 3rd highest seed in the CL first round. another group stages this year (big ask) and a bye would not be impossible.

This is why Shels need to take advantage of the kind draw and get to Groups, you cant miss these chances when they come

[nr637]

I suppose St. Pats & fans will have a nice holiday trip to Besiktas of Turkey to look forward before exiting the Europa Conference League!

[EatYerGreens]

I suppose St. Pats & fans will have a nice holiday trip to Besiktas of Turkey to look forward before exiting the Europa Conference League!

I've been to Besiktas, and would urge Pats fans thinking about it to go. It's a great stadium, and the atmosphere at their games is intense

[yurt]

The LOI have been one of the main beneficiary's of the new Euro structures. With the first round being made up entirely of leagues 31-55 it's meant there isn't the chance to draw bigger sides in round one and get bounced out with no co-efficient points.

Since the conference league came in in 21/22 we've been pretty consistently winning ties against teams from these leagues and as such we've risen to the top of this bottom tier (31-55).

The actual floor and ceiling of what the LOi's co-efficient could realistically be this season has never been so drastic at this stage before. If 2 clubs get into the group stages it's very possible we could finish in the top 20 for the season. If none fail to qualify then it will be closer to 40th.

Shels are more likely to actually reach the group stages with their path but Rovers are far more likely to pick up results in the groups stages if they make it.

[2 Year Contract]

Am I right in saying not only will our cup winners start in the Europa League next season, but also the club that come second in the league (if they’re not cup winners themselves), will start in the second qualifying round of the conference league next summer as opposed to the first round as second placed rovers did this year, while the team in third place (again, if they’re not cup winners) will begin in the first qualifying round of the conference league as usual?

[yurt]

Am I right in saying not only will our cup winners start in the Europa League next season, but also the club that come second in the league (if they’re not cup winners themselves), will start in the second qualifying round of the conference league next summer as opposed to the first round as second placed rovers did this year, while the team in third place (again, if they’re not cup winners) will begin in the first qualifying round of the conference league as usual?

Yeah I think you are correct. All teams will be starting at different rounds.

Champions - UCLQ1
Cup Winners - ELQ1
Runners Up - ECLQ2
Third Place - ECLQ1

[2 Year Contract]

Yeah I think you are correct. All teams will be starting at different rounds.

Champions - UCLQ1
Cup Winners - ELQ1
Runners Up - ECLQ2
Third Place - ECLQ1

Happy days, 3 clubs in the second round of the conference minimum then, realistically it could be all 4 clubs minimum at that stage every year provided the one starting in the 1st round doesn’t get an absolute stinker of a draw

[yurt]

Anyone else pay for the SolidSport stream, audio feed banjaxed for anyone else?

[sidewayspasser]

Audio sounds ok for me.
Video occasionally has issues for fractions of a second though, but I'm not sure whether it's the stream or my internet connection.

[total hoofball]

I'd rate that as a solid professional not doing anything stupid 1st half performance from Shels. Rijeka have shown little in the final third they also don't have the athletic quality of Qarabag but they are physical and may well have a burst in them to score in the 2nd half with their dominant possession so Shels have to keep this up

[Dave77]

It’s the stream. The sound is fine but skips. Solid sport seem poor

[Philosophizer]

Good god, what an avoidable catastrophe from the keeper.

[Acornvilla]

Bit of a heavy touch alright

[yurt]

I'd rate that as a solid professional not doing anything stupid 1st half performance from Shels.

Shame the same won't be said about the second half. Pathetic first touch from the keeper to gift a pen.

[2 Year Contract]

Good god, what an avoidable catastrophe from the keeper.

Peak LOI in Europe (or should I say, Shels in Europe this year?) goal to give away

[placid casual]

Great response

[Acornvilla]

A beautiful corner, Sam Bone can do it on a Wednesday night the in Europa League, who would have thought :confused:

[Philosophizer]

And they’re back level within 2 mins. Excellent goal from the corner! Fair play.

[2 Year Contract]

A beautiful corner, Sam Bone can do it on a Wednesday night the in Europa League, who would have thought :confused:
Thought that was about to be ruled out there but the replay shows the keeper just ran full force into his centre back which knocked him to the ground

[geysir]

I didn't think it was a penalty, anyway Shels equalise on the rebound. This is an excellent performance from Shels, following on from their games v Qarabag.

[cob655]

Any free links available?

[yurt]

John Martin inches away with an absolute rasper of an effort. Shels have actually looked a lot more comfortable since the goals in the game

[placid casual]

This is a good performance by shels,fair play.
Hopefully they can keep the lead now

[pineapple stu]

Shels take the lead!

Seriously encouraging ahead of the return - reminders of the game against Hajduk Split which got them through to play Depor all those years ago. Even if they lose, it's a unexpectedly decent performance which will give them hope for the return.