League of Ireland in Europe 2016

[TheBoss]

Just having a quick look at the possible opponents for Dundalk in the Champions League, its probably the toughest lineup a LOI side can face, it just seems every year its getting harder and harder, although Dundalk's performances against BATE were admirable perhaps giving some optimism. Most leagues are not over and some are very tight but you would expect the usual better sides just to nick them. I guesstimated the 4 teams from Qualifying Round 1.

Possible Seedings: [(-1)= Game in Hand]

Club	Nation	Co-eff	Status
Salzburg	Aut	42.520	6 Points Clear
Celtic	Sco	40.460	8 Points Clear
APOEL	Cyp	35.935	2 Points Clear
BATE Borisov	Bls	34.000	CHAMPIONS
Legia Warsaw	Pol	28.000	1 Point Clear
Dinamo Zagreb	Cro	25.775	4 Point Clear
Ludogorets	Bul	25.625	9 Points Clear (-1)
København	Den	24.720	7 Points Clear
Maccabi Tel-Aviv	Isr	20.225	2 Points Behind (-1)
Qarabag	Azb	13.475	13 Points Clear
Rosenborg BK	Nor	12.850	CHAMPIONS
FK Astana	Kaz	12.575	CHAMPIONS
Skënderbeu Korçë	Alb	7.825	6 Points Clear
Red Star Belgrade	Srb	7.175	15 Points Clear
Dinamo Tbilisi	Geo	5.875	11 Points Clear
FH Hafnarfjardar	Isl	5.750	CHAMPIONS
Trencín	Svk	5.400	9 Points Clear
-	-	-
The New Saints	Wal	5.200	CHAMPIONS
F91 Dudelange	Lux	5.050	8 Points Clear
Zalgiris Vilnius	Lit	4.925	CHAMPIONS
Olimpija Ljubljana	Slo	4.625	2 Points Clear
Valletta	Mlt	4.466	5 Points Clear
Dacia Chisinau	Mol	4.325	Level (-1)
Vardar Skopje	Mac	4.200	5 Points Clear
IFK Norrköping	Swe	3.975	CHAMPIONS
Ferencváros	Hun	3.475	CHAMPIONS
Crusaders	Nir	3.400	8 Points Clear
Flora Tallinn	Est	3.350	CHAMPIONS
Zrinjski	Bos	3.125	Level
FC Santa Coloma	And	2.699	CHAMPIONS
Dundalk	Irl	2.590	CHAMPIONS
Mladost	Mon	2.475	8 Points Clear
SJK Seinäjoki	Fin	1.730	CHAMPIONS
FK Liepaja	Lat	1.075	CHAMPIONS

The only thing that Dundalk fans could hope for is that Maccabi Tel-Aviv lose to Hapoel Be'er Sheva (4.725), meaning that The New Saints would be seeded. But that would be meaningless unless Maribor [Slo] (21.625) or Sheriff [Mol] (10.575) win their respective leagues

[seand]

Yes, two weak teams winning in Finland and Sweden means they will both be unseeded, taking out a couple of the usual northern European opponents. Once again hoping that TNS can sneak into the seeds. Apart from that you'd think there's only 1 or 2 clubs Dundalk would have any chance against.

I'm primarily thinking in terms of a nice trip........

[Dodge]

Bookmark this. It will do the work for you.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?...E6GANv4hXH3YuQ

Second tab is for the Europa League. Pats and Rovers to be seeded in QR1, but not in QR2. Cork unseeded throughout

[PartySaint]

Yes, two weak teams winning in Finland and Sweden means they will both be unseeded, taking out a couple of the usual northern European opponents. Once again hoping that TNS can sneak into the seeds. Apart from that you'd think there's only 1 or 2 clubs Dundalk would have any chance against.

I'm primarily thinking in terms of a nice trip........

It's a nightmare list in terms of potential opponents, the handiest draw if TNS don't get in there is probably Celtic of all teams.

[bennocelt]

Bookmark this. It will do the work for you.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?...E6GANv4hXH3YuQ

Second tab is for the Europa League. Pats and Rovers to be seeded in QR1, but not in QR2. Cork unseeded throughout

Dodge you are a star, had last years one bookmarked but couldn't for the life of me find this years one, will be hours of enjoyment with this baby, cheers

As for the CL, id fancy Dundalk against that team from Albania any day of the week, or the Icelandic team.......all depends on the draw though

[seand]

The Albanians Skenderbeu have a massive amount of experience in Europe. They've won 3 CL ties and playing in the EL groups in the last 3 years. (They could get done by Partizan who would be unseeded but it looks unlikely) We'll probably be kept away from Albania anyway when it is 'regionally' grouped- in fact we'll probably be kept away from most of the seeds we might have had half a chance against (Albania, Serbia, Georgia, Slovakia). Hard to tell but we could well end up in a Northern European mini group with Celtic, BATE, Rosenborg, Levski, Copenhagen and FH. And draw BATE again, obviously.

[Dodge]

The groups last time out were pretty good for Dundalk

Year before Pats "regional" group was Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, Azerbaijan and Finland

[El-Pietro]

I didn't think UEFA grouped the CL Qualifiers by Region? Europa League/UEFA Cup always was (though last year was a complete mess so who knows what the process is anymore, one of the teams we could have been drawn against were Inter Baku of Azerbaijan).

We drew a team from Cyprus in 2006, and Derry went to Armenia in 2007 though that was in a slightly different format. When they added that preliminary round in 2009 Bohs played Red Bull Salzburg. The recent second round ties have been geographically kind to Irish teams but in each year I can see at least one tie (not involving Irish teams) that can't be explained by Geographic grouping.
2015/16 Molde (Norway) vs Pyunik (Armenia)
2014/15 Stromsgodet (Norway) vs Steaua Bucherest (Romania)
2013/14 Dinamo Tblisi (Georgia) vs EB/Streymur (Faroes)
2012/13 AEL Limasol (Cyprus) vs Linfield (N.Ireland)

Now it may be that the quirks of geography mean that in a given year there has to be one or two draws with teams on opposite sides of Europe and other than that they are loosely geographically based. Looking at it a little closer it does appear that from about 2011-12 on the Northern European teams were drawn against each other more frequently.

I wish they would be more transparent on this to make it a little easier to plan for. I had figured out routes and hotels for just about every possible destination I thought we could get, and then they almost dropped Azerbaijan on us. If we had been sent to Azerbaijan we'd have been screwed for Visas.

[seand]

It's not done officially in the CL. (Is it done officially in the EL?) You're drawing from a fairly small pot anyway- 34 teams in qualifying round 2- and you don't know what countries are going to provide the seeds. There might be no northern European seeds. While it is (or seems to be) informally regionalised there has to be flexibility to allow for geographical clumping of seeds or non-seeds. If UEFA want a roughly northern European group the likely seeds would be the champions of Belarus, Scotland, Iceland, Denmark, Poland and Norway. The possible nonseeds would come from Ireland north and south, Sweden, Finland, Wales, 3 Baltic states, Luxembourg and the first round qualifiers, so we're looking at an imbalance there already.

[Nesta99]

'European mini group with Celtic, BATE, Rosenborg, Levski, Copenhagen and FH

Imagine what Ollie Horgan's positive outlook would be if it was actually Finn Harps in the potential pot above....

[Mr A]

Look, we'll give it a go. We won't be found wanting for endeavour.

[Nesta99]

"Look, we'll give it a go. We won't be found wanting for endeavour.....they're much stronger than us, we will probably be hammered but sure look it we will turn up "...(or is that a bit too Buckly or JC)

[outspoken]

http://m.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0503/785822-kosovo/

Kosovan clubs now eligible to compete in European competition. You'd imagine that's another set of opponents our LOI clubs could beat. Good stuff.

[Dodge]

Updated link to track seedings

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?...AEY2-peVXk6VaI

[TheBoss]

Still possible that TNS (If they win in Q1 ) may be seeded.

In Israel, Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5 points ahead of Maccabi with 2 games left.
In Slovenia, Olimpija & Maribor are level on points with 3 games left.
In Moldova, Sheriff & Dacia are level on points with 2 games left, They play each other on the final day.

[TheBoss]

Still possible that TNS (If they win in Q1 ) may be seeded.

In Israel, Hapoel Be'er Sheva 5 points ahead of Maccabi with 2 games left.
In Slovenia, Olimpija & Maribor are level on points with 3 games left.
In Moldova, Sheriff & Dacia are level on points with 2 games left, They play each other on the final day.

Update.

Its now down to 2 leagues as Olimpija won the Slovenian league.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva are now only 2 points ahead of Maccabi with just 1 game left which is on Saturday.
Sheriff & Dacia are still level on points, they face each other on the final day on Friday. If its a draw, they will have play each other again in a championship playoff!

http://m.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0503/785822-kosovo/

Kosovan clubs now eligible to compete in European competition. You'd imagine that's another set of opponents our LOI clubs could beat. Good stuff.

They actually could compete this season!

http://www.uefa.org/mediaservices/newsid=2365958.html

Regarding the integration of Kosovan clubs in the UEFA competitions 2016/17, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that the domestic champion and the domestic cup winner could be admitted to the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League respectively, only if they could meet licensing criteria under article 15 of the UEFA Club Licensing & Financial Fair Play regulations. This assessment will be made by the UEFA administration within the deadline of 31 May 2016.

[Nesta99]

http://m.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0503/785822-kosovo/

Kosovan clubs now eligible to compete in European competition. You'd imagine that's another set of opponents our LOI clubs could beat. Good stuff.

The holy grail of getting seeded in Q2 is probably needed to get such a draw. But if TNS are knocking on the door well it is certainly possible. This may be an obvious question or i've missed it somewhere - is it better to be in Q1 seeded and win the 2 legs to improve co-efficient than to go in to Q2 unseeded lose both legs and make little impact on the co-efficient. Seeing Crusaders ranked higher than Dundalk considering qualification for Europe in 2010/14/15 and this season which will hopefully produce results regardless of being unseeded. I guess 2010 has fallen off for this season? In the past if you entered European competition at a latter stage were co-eff points awarded as if you had won through the previous rounds or is that a myth? Similar with prizemoney, take your chance as a seeded side in Q1 accumulate winning the round and going in to Q2? All questions I am!

[seand]

My understanding is that it used to be a case the a club gained coefficient points for winning matches, so you were better off starting in Q1, beating an Andorran team then winning home and losing away in Q2 than starting in Q3 and losing both games. Now you'll be better off starting in Q3 and losing home and away than winning 3 games in Q1 and Q2. From a coef point of view there's no benefit in winning thru Q1 to get into Q2- you're as well off starting in Q2. (Teams in Q1 will get extra prize money for playing in Q1 though, which just helps to ensure the likes TNS will romp through their leagues for the foreseeable future.)

TNS have built up their coefficient by just being there every year over the last 5 years. Likewise Irish clubs (Dundalk, UCD) have been blessed enough to play seeded Luxembourgish teams that built up coefficient by qualifying fairly regularly.

Match wins contribute to country coefficient though, which is a smaller component of club coefficient and which determines who starts in what round.

All the above is subject to confusion and wrongness.

[Djm1901]

What effect would allowing the Kosovan champions into the QR1 have on the seeding for TNS? It would make an uneven number of clubs in that round so they would either have to give a bye to someone or drop a team back from the 2nd QR

[Dodge]

My understanding is that it used to be a case the a club gained coefficient points for winning matches, so you were better off starting in Q1, beating an Andorran team then winning home and losing away in Q2 than starting in Q3 and losing both games.

That was never the case for qualification rounds. Since the introduction of the Europa League they have awarded club points based on the rounds that you exit it.

Winning games/drawing games only ever effected the national rating (which now makes up 20% of the club rating)

Bohs got 2 points for beating Kaiserslautern and Shels got a point for drawing with Lille. Until 2009, no other clubs had won club points

I try to explain it here
http://extratime.ie/newsdesk/article...icient-system/