Sure we have direct flights to Iceland now anyway, all of our European logistical nightmares are over.
Sure we have direct flights to Iceland now anyway, all of our European logistical nightmares are over.
Pats had a lot of travel a few years ago but the first round trip to Iceland is easier now but a trip to Faroe's would be more difficult. IF they got into the second round they could get Kazakhstan or something like that.
west cork district league
west cork commandos
They could draw Aktobe in the first round potentially. Central Kazakh side
Worst case scenario, which is unlikely, of a Kazakh opponent, surely you can manage tranport for a grand a head? Leave plenty of change from the prize money
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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New blog if anyone's interested - http://loihistory.wordpress.com/
LOI section on balls.ie - http://balls.ie/league-of-ireland/
Student flights are always cheaper though.
Ryanair to Kazakhstan anyone? The mind boggles.
Congratulations to Ryanair for infiltrating both the transfer rumours and European football threads. Michael O'Leary would be proud.
A fairly significant jump in prize money this year. From RTE:
SSE Airtricity League sides competing in Europe are set for a greater financial reward after a new prize money agreement was announced by the European Clubs Association and UEFA today.Clubs have agreed to distribute revenue from the Champions League and Europa League more evenly from next season.
The Europa League prize money will increase by 65%.
The announcement comes amid concerns that the gulf between Europe's richest clubs and the rest is widening, with the result that both domestic leagues and the Champions League itself are becoming increasingly repetitive and predictable.
St Patrick’s Athletic secured €375,000 in prize money last year following their Champions League campaign which ended against Legia Warsaw. This year, Dundalk will now secure a minimum of €550,000.
The participants in qualifying rounds of the Europa League received a minimum of €120,000. Dundalk, Derry City and Sligo Rovers banked €250,000 after progressing to the second round of the qualifying last year.
Entrants this year will receive a minimum of €200,000 and €410,000 if they reach the second round. The third round would yield a total of €630,000.
"ECA and UEFA have together developed a revolutionary distribution mechanism for the Champions League and Europa League, aimed at sharing the competitions' revenue growth more evenly among European clubs," ECA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
"A record funding pot of €2.24 billion (per season) will be divided with a new focus on solidarity," they added following an ECA meeting in Stockholm.
"A greater proportion of funds than ever before will go to UEFA Europa League participants, to participants in the qualifying rounds and to clubs in medium/smaller championships.
"The concept means more funding for all, because the new percentage-based system ensures that every stakeholder will benefit proportionally from the competitions' continued growth."
Dundalk are set to represent the Republic of Ireland in the 2015/2016 Champions League qualifying rounds.
Cork City, St Patrick's Athletic, Shamrock Rovers will enter Europa League qualifying. UCD could also feature through the fair play entry.
Here on a technicality.
Great for the clubs involved.
It creates a huge competive advantage for the teams that have qualified for Europe.
Huge money. The difference between finishing third and fourth (or fourth and fifth) is now a minimum 200k. Dunno if it encourages sustainability.... if you're in the mix in July you'd be crazy not to go spending an extra 10-20k on wages chasing Europe!
Over 1 million in prize money alone for getting through 2 rounds. Huge money for a LOI club
Here on a technicality.
The FAI could use this as an opportunity to re weight the domestic prize money, lessening the money they give to the top 4 and instead using it to make the first division cheaper and more accessible.
According to the UEFA Statement:
"Furthermore, the distribution to national associations and/or leagues will no longer be exclusively based on their market value, but 60% of the available amounts will be distributed in equal shares amongst all national associations and/or leagues and only 40% will follow the market value. This will ensure a fairer distribution of solidarity amounts to European clubs."
This surely means a big hike in the FAI cut. Surely some of this should be put into the League prize fund, and preferably loaded away from the top clubs.
BTW, where will the LOI Fair Play League be found. Someone post a link?
Mad to think people (not Rovers fans) were predicting we'd dominate the league after the €1m-ish boost from qualifying for the Europa. Now that's the minimum guaranteed total pot.
Think of all the crisps and soft drinks we can buy
More importantly we should be able to buy the league title... again ;-)
Anyone have any idea how the payments to clubs who don't qualify for Europe might change?
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