LOI In Europe 2025

[pineapple stu]

Rosenborg?
There we go.

And against five different clubs too - Shels in 2000, Bohs in 2003, Sligo in 2014, Dundalk in 2017 and Cork in 2018

On the other clubs mentioned, Djurgardens and Legia have only played six games, and Slovan have played eight. Stjarnan have only played four games (again you can include a UCD Youth League tie too) - but we've played 11 different Icelandic sides, none more than four games/two ties.

[ger121]

Rosenborg?

Good shout!

[Eminence Grise]

Why dont we have a club called Hamrun Spartans? Its perfect!

I can think of a few Hamstrung Strikers with fairly Spartan returns over the years.

[geysir]

If the Lisbon international tournament of 1985 counts in some fashion as European competitive then Rovers have already achieved the best result against a Portuguese team. Rovers drew with Benfica and beat Sporting Lisbon to win the cup. There was some drama when the cup was being presented to the Rover's captain (forget name) but the nob presenting the cup was very reluctant to loosen his grip on the cup, didn't want to let it go to a 'minnow' club and the Rovers captain had to use some force to loosen the grip and grab the cup.

[EalingGreen]

If the Lisbon international tournament of 1985 counts in some fashion as European competitive then Rovers have already achieved the best result against a Portuguese team. Rovers drew with Benfica and beat Sporting Lisbon to win the cup. There was some drama when the cup was being presented to the Rover's captain (forget name) but the nob presenting the cup was very reluctant to loosen his grip on the cup, didn't want to let it go to a 'minnow' club and the Rovers captain had to use some force to loosen the grip and grab the cup.Ahem...

"Glentoran’s greatest moment in Europe came in a 1967 European Cup tie against Benfica. In the first leg at The Oval, Glentoran took an early lead with a penalty before football legend Eusébio equalized in the 87th minute, ending the match 1–1. In the return leg at Benfica’s Estádio da Luz, part-time Glentoran defied expectations with a 0–0 draw. Although Benfica advanced on away goals, Glentoran became the first team eliminated by this rule and the first to prevent Benfica from scoring at home"

Benfica - Eusebio, Simoes, Graca, Coluna, Torres and all - went all the way to the final that season, losing to Man U at Wembley.

And of course Glentoran were the first British team ever to win a European trophy when they won the Vienna Cup in 1914 :wink:

[yurt]

Ahem...

"Glentoran’s greatest moment in Europe came in a 1967 European Cup tie against Benfica. In the first leg at The Oval, Glentoran took an early lead with a penalty before football legend Eusébio equalized in the 87th minute, ending the match 1–1. In the return leg at Benfica’s Estádio da Luz, part-time Glentoran defied expectations with a 0–0 draw. Although Benfica advanced on away goals, Glentoran became the first team eliminated by this rule and the first to prevent Benfica from scoring at home"

Benfica - Eusebio, Simoes, Graca, Coluna, Torres and all - went all the way to the final that season, losing to Man U at Wembley.

And of course Glentoran were the first British team ever to win a European trophy when they won the Vienna Cup in 1914 :wink:

That's some great football history. I'd have heard about that tie before. Glentoran vs Eusebio being the first instance of away goals being used to decide a tie is a great piece of trivia.

[Dermobohs]

And there was me thinking Bohs were the only European trophy winners.

[EatYerGreens]

And there was me thinking Bohs were the only European trophy winners.

If it's not on a shirt, it never happened.

[EatYerGreens]

Why dont we have a club called Hamrun Spartans? Its perfect!

At a wild guess - because there's nowhere called Hamrun in Ireland? :D

[Nesta99]

At a wild guess - because there's nowhere called Hamrun in Ireland? :D

I wouldnt bet agaisnt it with some of the townland names we get away with but if there isnt then we should and automatically enter then to LoI!

[sbgawa]

Harmonstown Spartans maybe

[placid casual]

No surprise to see RTE are not covering the Rovers or Shels games on Thursday,with Premier sports picking up the baton showing the shels game at least.
RTE ,along with their "cultural" buddy the grab all association are a malignancy on Irish society.

[Nesta99]

Rangers v Brugge is a massive draw to viewers sure!

[nr637]

The current Head of Sport at RTÉ is Declan McBennett a one-time Monaghan junior footballer of the year with his club Oram, McBennett is still heavily involved in GAA at club level!
:confused:

[dundalkfc10]

Dan McDonnell has a tweet up, can't find it now saying RTE showing Rovers was never a runner due to the costs involved with the quick turnaround, and extra costs for var etc

I can't feed the tweet but it seemed a very strange one to me

Surely Rovers will have it on LOITV or Solidstream?

[holidaysong]

Rovers is on LOITV. It was on the league twitter in the last hour.

[yurt]

Is the game going to sell out? I saw tickets were still available yesterday.

Assuming there'll be next to no away fans which makes it that bit harder to sell out I guess.

[placid casual]

Tickets available for the North stand, West & South are sold out , no away fans and East stand unlikely to open for "neutrals" so I'd say a crowd of just under 8k expected

[Martinho II]

read in irish sun earlier that Premier Sports are showing the Linfield Shels game.

[Burnsie]

Tickets available for the North stand, West & South are sold out , no away fans and East stand unlikely to open for "neutrals" so I'd say a crowd of just under 8k expected

the East is open, with tickets available (as well as in the North)

[Buckett]

read in irish sun earlier that Premier Sports are showing the Linfield Shels game.
You could have read that here first thing this morning!

[CorribsideSteve]

Celtic out of the CL after losing on penalties to Kairat. Maeda missed chances in both matches and then misses the final penalty. But celtic mossed 3 of them. Wasteful.

[Nesta99]

Celtic out of the CL after losing on penalties to Kairat. Maeda missed chances in both matches and then misses the final penalty. But celtic mossed 3 of them. Wasteful.

About €45m worth of wasteful, spectacular stuff tbh even with Celtic's previous bananas skin moments

[yurt]

From a co-efficient pov, the Kazakh's have jumped right into our mini league of countries vying for Europe league football over the coming years.

You could tell from the game yesterday that Kairat were a few levels above anything we have here so I would fear that their league is coming back strong after some pretty shocking years in Europe.

[Neish]

Celtic out of the CL after losing on penalties to Kairat. Maeda missed chances in both matches and then misses the final penalty. But celtic mossed 3 of them. Wasteful.

Only seen bits and pieces of the game, whilst Celtic were wasteful Kairat offered very little but were very dogged and determined nobody is going to want to go there in the league stage

[nr637]

What is Shels allocation for their Belfast trip!

[Nesta99]

Only seen bits and pieces of the game, whilst Celtic were wasteful Kairat offered very little but were very dogged and determined nobody is going to want to go there in the league stage

If they were absolutely muck I dont think anyone would want to go there really. I thought they were a bit like a LoI side in Europe but better and without the calamity goal and Celtic werent absolutely ruthless. I dont think they were at a level that a LoI couldnt attain which should mean that CL groups are not a never.

[yurt]

Assuming there's no live stream of the Athlone Women's Champions League tie available?

[WeAreRovers]

Tickets available for the North stand, West & South are sold out , no away fans and East stand unlikely to open for "neutrals" so I'd say a crowd of just under 8k expected

7,200 sold as of yesterday morning. Attendance should be 8,000 plus easy I'd say.

[holidaysong]

Assuming there's no live stream of the Athlone Women's Champions League tie available?

It's on LOITV.

[Acornvilla]

https://www.loitv.ie/ie/onairnow/84/athlone-town-afc-mens-womens

It's free btw!

[total hoofball]

What is Shels allocation for their Belfast trip!
It's the same as the July game around 1,300. Linfield are basically matching the 8% percentage allocation as Shels were restricted to give them for Tolka games

[sbgawa]

7,200 sold as of yesterday morning. Attendance should be 8,000 plus easy I'd say.


East stand will be open so whuch is good to see

[Martinho II]

Only seen bits and pieces of the game, whilst Celtic were wasteful Kairat offered very little but were very dogged and determined nobody is going to want to go there in the league stage

Why was JK not brought on as sub? Celtic were shockin bad JK could ave made a difference!

[Nesta99]

If it was a LoI side losing 9-1 on agg with time to play Id hanging my head! Even against a very good side.

[dundalkfc10]

East stand will be open so whuch is good to see

I've just found out il be out that way for work tomorrow and should be finished around 7 hopefully

Do they sell tickets outside the ground, as it's possible work will run late and I don't want buy a ticket now

[sbgawa]

yeah u can buy a ticket at the gate

[CorribsideSteve]

If it was a LoI side losing 9-1 on agg with time to play Id hanging my head! Even against a very good side.
Ture to an extent. But there have been plenty of aggregate scorelines for LOI clubs down the years which have at least approached the Brugge-Rangers scoreline last night. Ranger's absolute hockeying was very reminiscent to me of the likes of Shels and Bohs being absolutely taken apart limb from limb by Brondby and Rosenborg back in the day. More recently even Shams have suffered beatings-out-the-gate, for example against Ferencvaros a few years back. It is funny though watching a club with the resources Rangers have, losing so violently, as if they were an LOI team from 1995, or worse. As a fan of 'Pies and Bovril' - the SPL version of foot.ie, I do check in on the forum every summer to see what the flavour of scottish rants and musings are, Euro related. Most people laughing heartily ay the Old Firm, but quite a few people also that see the bigger picture of the SPL slipping rapidly down the coeff table.

[pineapple stu]

It's interesting that Celtic and Rangers' bad results are in contrast to the other sides, who've had vaguely decent results. Hibs took Midtylland to extra time in the Europa, then knocked out Partizan Belgrade in the Conference League and lost narrowly at home to Legia in the playoffs. Dundee United beat a Luxembourg side home and away (1-0 each time, granted) and then took Rapid Wien to penalties. Aberdeen drew with Steaua in the Europa playoffs and are guaranteed Conference groups.

Those sides have all had much worse sets of results down the years.

Obviously Rangers weren't helped by playing 80+ minutes with ten men, but still - 6-0 is 6-0.

[Stuttgart88]

Both Glasgow clubs were genuinely competitive in Europe last year. Amazing how quickly things can change.

[Stuttgart88]

, but still - 6-0 is 6-0.Actually, there are 6-nils and 6-nil-but-it could have-been-ten-or mores. Brugge hit the wooodwork, drew good saves from Butland and showboated instead of shooting. 6 was actually a poor return for their domination.

[pineapple stu]

Some interesting ties tonight outside of Ireland. Hamrun Spartans are 1-0 up in Latvia already and 2-0 up on aggregate - on course to be the first ever Maltese side in the group stages of Europe

Virtus of San Marino take on Breidablik at 8, just one goal down.

Differdange or Drita will be in the groups too, as well Crystal Palace if they hang on to their 1-0 lead for the last 30 minutes in Norway

[Dermobohs]

Anyone else getting problems with the stream on Loitv??
Keeps stopping then resuming from the ko, absolute ****e

[joey B]

No jeopardy for Shels at all,maybe Joey was the brains all along!

[Nesta99]

These Santa Clara Brazilians dont like any contact, getting frustrated at not getting frees (which would be really soft) and starting to lash out. Funny moment was a SC player going down calling foul when Honohan (I think) was in possession and was up quickly when the ref played on. Should card miraculous recovery!

Quiet enough game, Rovers doing their job.

[2 Year Contract]

No jeopardy for Shels at all,maybe Joey was the brains all along!
Maybe, or maybe as predicted prior to the tie, he’s playing against an absolutely awful football team from a league ranked 15 below our own ;)

[Dermobohs]

Linfield , apart from Shiels and the no 9, are shockingly bad, really miles off it.
Shels are a solid Loi premier side, top 3 guaranteed, full time and it shows.
I would love to see the two clubs’ budgets because I reckon the billy boys are being ripped off big styleeee, first div Loi, and nowhere near play off at best.

[Nesta99]

Linfield are full time also arent they? Im surprised at the extent of the gap tbh, if Shels had been more ruthless they'd have 4 from 4 games and wouldnt have had to be particularly good.

[Shinkicker]

Linfield , apart from Shiels and the no 9, are shockingly bad, really miles off it.
Shels are a solid Loi premier side, top 3 guaranteed, full time and it shows.
I would love to see the two clubs’ budgets because I reckon the billy boys are being ripped off big styleeee, first div Loi, and nowhere near play off at best.
NI football is way behind LOI football. Under performing Shelbourne are strolling around like champions and are

[Shinkicker]

NI football is way behind LOI football. Under performing Shelbourne are strolling around like champions and are
Fully deserving their win and their monetary bonus . I