Never too early for this thread!
Rovers in the Champions League, Derry, Pat's and either Bohs/Shels in the Conference League - and UCD in the Youth League, after winning the U-17 division on goals scored at the weekend. Started the day two points behind Dundalk and Shels, who both drew 2-2 (against Rovers and Treaty), but while we were also pegged back to 2-2 in Derry, we scored another three goals - the fifth in the 83rd minute - to end up two ahead of Dundalk on goals scored, and one ahead of Shels on goal difference back in third.
Pat's didn't make the Youth League this year as Ireland were ranked 40th and only the top 36 countries ended up with a team. This year Ireland are 36th (and Liechtenstein, who don't have a league, are one of those ahead of us, while Russia are still banned at present), so a fairly good chance we'll be in it next year.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 05/11/2023 at 10:50 AM.
I thought I read somewhere that Uefa were going to put domestic cup winners into the Europa league or was that fake news.
Down as far as 34th only per wiki. We're 36th.
Safe to assume the prize money is more significant compared to the UCL. It would be huge for the LOI to get an UEL spot for the cup winners.
So that’s €350k in uefa prize money as minimum.
€450k minimum for the cup winner going straight into the 2nd round.
€350k if you drop out in the 2nd round and €100k for each round you play in.
Actually, can update this as there's a format change for the Youth League next year.
Next year there's 36 teams in the Champions League - the new Swiss system with no groups. All those clubs' youth teams will be in the CL part of the Youth League, as before.
Then all 53 eligible countries (ie everyone bar Liechtenstein and Russia) have a representative in the Domestic Champions path. If the domestic champion is also in the CL proper, then the runner-up gets invited instead, and so on down the line. That's a big change for the LoI - Pat's didn't play in the Youth League this year because the LoI was too far down the UEFA coefficient rankings.
The top seeds will be seeded next year, so the first round will be the champions of the teams from around 30th down. The LoI is 36th, so we should be one of the stronger sides in that. In the second round, all the other teams join, where you could be paired with a side from England, Holland, Belgium, etc - so some top draws available.
Based on current regulations, the Brandywell won't be able to be used beyond the second qualifying round this year, if we did get that far.
The club going to try and nominate Windsor, Tallaght and Lansdowne as alternative grounds. Might not get away with the Windsor one, but worth a go.
Wasn't it tried and rejected recently enough?
iirc it was only rejected because Derry didn't nominate it as a possibility to use
Derry requested it but UEFA didn’t allow it as it’s not a ground in the jurisdiction of the FAI
TNS's ground is within England, yet they are still permitted to use it for European games. Perhaps the difference is that it is their home ground?
You may actually be correct, though I've never seen it confirmed anywhere. For example, Cardiff and Swansea etc are still members of the FAW, which has jurisdiction over disciplinary matters etc, even when those have been committed in the (English) FA's jurisdiction.
Certainly DCFC's womens' team are members of the IFA, playing in the Irish League's Womens Premiership.
11 of the 15 potential opponents for Rovers in the champions league are now known.
NK Celje Slo 4.500
Hamrun Spartans Mlt 4.500
Larne FC Nir 4.500
Dinamo Minsk Bls 4.500
FK Panevezys Lit 4.000
Ordabasy Shymkent Kaz 4.000
Vikingur Reykjavik Isl 4.000
FC Struga Mac 3.500
Differdange 03 Lux 3.500
UE Santa Coloma And 1.199
AC Virtus Sma 0.366
I hadn't realised that there's no preliminary round this year. San Marino or Andorra would be the only games I think you'd make Rovers 90% favorites for.
Kazakh champions would be the worst out of that list so far but it's really hard to know what the standard of the league s year on year.
Larne is obviously te draw of choice. No travel, winnable and conference playoff at minimum? Andorra a banana skin without Jack!
There wasn't much between Derry and Tobol last year, so we can maybe presume our league is on a par with the Kazakh?
Certainly don't want them from a travel perspective. It's a quarter of a million for a charter there and back.
Celje and Dinamo Minsk are ones you'd want to avoid as well. Larne is the dream.
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