League of Ireland in Europe 2018

Paz-CCFC

Champions League
Cork City

Europa League
Dundalk
Derry City
Shamrock Rovers

The draw for the first two rounds of the CL and the second round of the EL (champions path only) will take place on Tuesday, 19 June. For the first two rounds of the rest of the EL (for non-champions), it'll be 20 June. First round matches will be 10/11 and 17/18 July for the CL and 12 and 19 July for the EL. Second round matches are the following week. Cork City, Derry City and Shamrock Rovers will be unseeded in the first round. Dundalk will be seeded in the first and second rounds. If City get knocked out of the CL, they'll drop into the EL a round later. Ie, if they lose the first round, they'll play in the EL second round.

Prize money for the CL has been announced by UEFA. The figures are up 60k a round, but the LoI representative is guaranteed slightly less due to starting a round earlier. But, they're guaranteed to parachute into the EL from the start, which gives another chunk of cash. Europa League figures are here.

That'd put City's guaranteed prize money at 800k. Winning one round in either the CL or the EL would give €1.1M-1.2M. If Dundalk qualify for the EL third round (and they're seeded for the first two), they'll get 780k.

Some very tough seeded sides in both the CL and EL. Barring a good draw, it'll be a tough task for City, Derry and Rovers to get through a round. But the EL being eliminated CL sides only for City gives a great chance of getting to round 3. Dundalk have a great chance of getting through at least one round being seeded. They have a decent chance of winning the second round too, but there are some tough unseeded teams that they'd want to avoid.

MD1990

Derry could well get hammered. Rovers will struggle too.
Cork could do better than some think. Hopefully they have Bennett & can keep it tight,get something off a set piece where they are very strong.

Dundalk should do well just need to improve in between the lines. They often leave too much space in midfield. O'Donnell could be a big loss in Europe.

Iused2likebusts

Is there a list of teams the Irish teams can get.

citytillidie

For Cork it is one of the following

Ludogorets Razgrad Bul 37.000
Celtic Sco 31.000
APOEL Nicosia Cyp 27.000
Legia Warsaw Pol 24.500
FK Astana Kaz 21.750
Garabag Agdam Azb 20.500
Sheriff Tiraspol Mol 14.750
Malmö FF Swe 14.000
Red Star Belgrade Srb 10.750
Hapoel Beer-Sheva Isr 10.000
Rosenborg BK Nor 9.000
HJK Helsinki Fin 8.000
The New Saints Wal 5.000
Videoton Fehérvár Hun 4.250
FK Kukësi Alb 4.250
Zrinjski Mostar Bos 3.750

For the others still unknown

Paz-CCFC

Think all the EL sides were confirmed in the last few days. There's been a running list here of the potential teams for each round the last few rounds (was updated weekly with any changes in position of the leagues and assumes the seeded sides progress through each round). I think all of the European leagues are finished now. If there are still some places to be decided, it still gives an idea of the type of teams that could be drawn.

MD1990 wrote: »

Derry could well get hammered. Rovers will struggle too.
Cork could do better than some think. Hopefully they have Bennett & can keep it tight,get something off a set piece where they are very strong.

I'm not so sure, to be honest. The first round of the CL has some very tough ties. I'd only see the bottom few seeded sides as beatable. Maybe with it starting a bit earlier this year and the World Cup being on, we might catch a bigger, off-season team on the hop, when they're only back in pre-season/possibly missing some of their WC players.

I'd see progression in the EL as a good possibility, though. A lot of very beatable teams in the second round of the champions route and the third round probably won't have the very strong teams (Ludogrets, Celtic, APOEL, Legia etc.) that will still be in the CL.

Gavin "shels"

Some very tough teams there for Cork.

Ferris_Bueller

Have a feeling it may be a disappointing year for Irish clubs in Europe. Derry are on a bad run at the moment and seem to be leaking goals, even if they improve their form which I'm sure they will, they have quite a young team and I can see them being turned over. Rovers are in crisis, if they play like they have on certain nights then they could do okay but chances are they will struggle in Europe as they have been in the league. Cork never strike me as a team that will do well in Europe and I think they will come up against some technically better team that will pass it around them and tire them out, one of the major gripes I have with Cork is that they have sort of underwhelmed in Europe the past few years.

Dundalk should do well in the first round as they are seeded, all depends on the draw after that. I think they have the style of play, experience and squad size to get through a couple of rounds hopefully.

Zebra3

Some disparity in the quality of sides that Cork could draw. Serious money even if the chances of making the group stages are almost non-existent now.

Derry could be on for another absolute hiding.

doncarlos

I'd fancy Cork to get through a round in the champions league and a couple of rounds in Europa. Dundalk should get through at least two rounds as their seeded. I'd worry for Rovers and Derry with the form their in.

Zebra3

doncarlos wrote: »

I'd fancy Cork to get through a round in the champions league and a couple of rounds in Europa. Dundalk should get through at least two rounds as their seeded. I'd worry for Rovers and Derry with the form their in.

There’s no shortage of teams that Cork wouldn't get much change out of in that list above.

NIMAN

Zebra3 wrote: »

Some disparity in the quality of sides that Cork could draw. Serious money even if the chances of making the group stages are almost non-existent now.

Derry could be on for another absolute hiding.

I wish I had the confidence with argue with you.....but I don't.

Paz-CCFC

doncarlos wrote: »

I'd fancy Cork to get through a round in the champions league and a couple of rounds in Europa. Dundalk should get through at least two rounds as their seeded. I'd worry for Rovers and Derry with the form their in.

Even being seeded, the second round could still be tough for Dundalk. Some unseeded teams you'd want to avoid, like Larnaca who City played last year. Some sides who would've been seeded in previous seasons (the likes of Hacken and AIK) are unseeded in the new system. Still some good draws, though, and you get to avoid massive teams like Sevilla (how are they in it this early?!), Besiktas and Lepzeig.

The Europa League qualifiers have become extremely competitive the way so many automatic group stage places are being given to the bigger nations, squeezing out smaller clubs. A few years ago, only the previous years' champions got an automatic group stage, everyone else qualified via the EL playoffs or dropped down from the CL. In that system, Dundalk would be borderline seeded in the 3rd round if they got there and would have a decent chance of qualifying for the group stages. They'd get the benefit of starting in the 2nd round as well, so would be that bit closer. Now, you have a team that won the competition three times in a row and five out of the last eight times they've been in it starting in that round!

Paz-CCFC

The draws for rounds 1 and 2 of the Champions League and the champions route of the Europa League are tomorrow morning at 11.

It looks like the CL first round will be a straight open draw between the 32 teams (16 seeded, 16 unseeded). In previous years, they were put into groups smaller groups of 5-6 seeded and unseeded teams the night before/morning of. This means that we won't be getting any idea of where we might be off to before the draw and we could end up anywhere. Astana, Qarabag and Hapoel are the ones to avoid in terms of the length and cost of trip and not giving us much of a chance of progression.

The draw for the main path of the Europa League will be on Wednesday. It seems that these will be grouped as they have done before. Groups for the first round at least tend to be regionalised, so the LoI teams will probably be facing potential trip to NI, Wales, Iceland, Scandanavia, Luxembourg, depending on seeding.

Can't wait for the draw! The excitement, looking at the various opposition, planning trips, potential Euro runs. You can't beat it.

citytillidie

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

The draws for rounds 1 and 2 of the Champions League and the champions route of the Europa League are tomorrow morning at 11.

It looks like the CL first round will be a straight open draw between the 32 teams (16 seeded, 16 unseeded). In previous years, they were put into groups smaller groups of 5-6 seeded and unseeded teams the night before/morning of. This means that we won't be getting any idea of where we might be off to before the draw and we could end up anywhere. Astana, Qarabag and Hapoel are the ones to avoid in terms of the length and cost of trip and not giving us much of a chance of progression.

The draw for the main path of the Europa League will be on Wednesday. It seems that these will be grouped as they have done before. Groups for the first round at least tend to be regionalised, so the LoI teams will probably be facing potential trip to NI, Wales, Iceland, Scandanavia, Luxembourg, depending on seeding.

Can't wait for the draw! The excitement, looking at the various opposition, planning trips, potential Euro runs. You can't beat it.

Champions League has always been an open draw it was the Europa League that is in groups because they just draw numbers and not teams

Paz-CCFC

citytillidie wrote: »

Champions League has always been an open draw it was the Europa League that is in groups because they just draw numbers and not teams

Before the main draw, teams used to be split into smaller groups, with each group having about the same average coefficient for fairness. See here for Dundalk's group last season.

I don't know if there used to be some unofficial attempt to somewhat regionalise teams, as Dundalk generally were grouped with Celtic and Scandinavian teams. Although, in 2014, Pats were grouped with mainly Eastern European sides, one Scandinavian team and Qarabag. But that year there weren't many seeded teams that would generally be recognised as Northern (just Latvian, Scottish and Finnish champions).

citytillidie

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

Before the main draw, teams used to be split into smaller groups, with each group having about the same average coefficient for fairness. See here for Dundalk's group last season.

I don't know if there used to be some unofficial attempt to somewhat regionalise teams, as Dundalk generally were grouped with Celtic and Scandinavian teams. Although, in 2014, Pats were grouped with mainly Eastern European sides, one Scandinavian team and Qarabag. But that year there weren't many seeded teams that would generally be recognised as Northern (just Latvian, Scottish and Finnish champions).

I was thinking of the way the draws were done in the Europa league all groups are drawn at the same time so who ever has 1 in a group would play say 8 in a group so that would be the same for the whole draw where the Champions League they are still pulling out teams so it is open draw

Paz-CCFC

citytillidie wrote: »

I was thinking of the way the draws were done in the Europa league all groups are drawn at the same time so who ever has 1 in a group would play say 8 in a group so that would be the same for the whole draw where the Champions League they are still pulling out teams so it is open draw

Yeah, in the Europa League, the groups are linked by the numbering/pairing. In the CL, they're not, and theoretically, you could end up in a group with anyone. But, it generally seemed to end up that Northern teams were somewhat kept together (Pats aside in 2013). It would've eased a lot of concerns before the draw to be in a group without some of the far flung teams, instead of having the chance to get anyone right up until the draw.

bot43

It seems we have been given a pot. One from Helsinki, Malmo, Ludogrets, Rosenburg , Legia Warsaw.

doncarlos

bot43 wrote: »

It seems we have been given a pot. One from Helsinki, Malmo, Ludogrets, Rosenburg , Legia Warsaw.

Ouch.

Very tough compared to some of the teams you could have drawn. Still an outside chance against any of the Scandinavian sides.

major bill

doncarlos wrote: »

Ouch.

Very tough compared to some of the teams you could have drawn. Still an outside chance against any of the Scandinavian sides.

Helsinki is the only team there I'd fancy but very tough either way

citytillidie

bot43 wrote: »

It seems we have been given a pot. One from Helsinki, Malmo, Ludogrets, Rosenburg , Legia Warsaw.

It would have made more sense to have TNS, Celtic, Cork and Crusaders all in the one group. Celtic and TNS are both seeded with Cork and Crusaders not seeded

Paz-CCFC

Hah, after all that, we end up being grouped anyway! Travel wise, those are all fairly manageable destinations. Definitely some tough teams, though. Seems a bit unfair that we got two of the highest ranked teams but no low-ranked seeds like TNS, Videoton or Mostar. But at least we avoided any trips to Western Asia.

HJK definitely our best chance. Malmo might be a good shout, too. They've been very poor in the league this season and if we won, we'd be seeded in round 2. They'll probably throw everything into qualifying though.

We wouldn't have a prayer against Legia or Ludogorets. Maybe Rosenborg might be manageable. Sligo and Dundalk put them to the sword in recent years. But they seem to be back on the up. Narrowly lost to Celtic last year, then beat Ajax to qualify for the EL groups.

I suppose it's the Champions League, so it's always going to be tough.

Paz-CCFC

Groups for the Europa League 1st round:


Derry City

Górnik Zabrze (POL)
Vardar (MKD)
Dinamo Minsk (BLR)
Spartak Subotica (SRB)
OFK Titograd (MNE)



Shamrock Rovers

Hafnarfjördur (ISL)
Nordsjælland (DEN)
AIK (SWE)
Ventspils (LVA)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR)



Dundalk

Levadia Tallinn (EST)
ÍBV (ISL)
KuPS Kuopio (FIN)
Liepāja (LVA)
Tre Fiori (SMR) / Bala Town (WAL)
NSÍ Runavík (FRO)



Very tough group for Derry and not great travel options. Bar Wales a few years ago, they also seem to be drawn in places not too close. Rovers have a couple of beatable sides and generally handy enough trips. Dundalk unsurprisingly have the easier opponents and generally handy trips as well.

kksaints

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

Groups for the Europa League 1st round:


Derry City

Górnik Zabrze (POL)
Vardar (MKD)
Dinamo Minsk (BLR)
Spartak Subotica (SRB)
OFK Titograd (MNE)



Shamrock Rovers

Hafnarfjördur (ISL)
Nordsjælland (DEN)
AIK (SWE)
Ventspils (LVA)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR)



Dundalk

Levadia Tallinn (EST)
ÍBV (ISL)
KuPS Kuopio (FIN)
Liepāja (LVA)
Tre Fiori (SMR) / Bala Town (WAL)
NSÍ Runavík (FRO)



Very tough group for Derry and not great travel options. Bar Wales a few years ago, they also seem to be drawn in places not too close. Rovers have a couple of beatable sides and generally handy enough trips. Dundalk unsurprisingly have the easier opponents and generally handy trips as well.

Ah IBV. Brings back good memories!.

Wouldn't fancy Derry or Rovers chances too much. Derry in particular seemed to have got some nasty trips and opposition. Can't imagine Dundalk would fear any of the teams they could get. Probably the winners of the Welsh/San Marino tie would be the best draw.

Paz-CCFC

There's a stream for the Champions League draw on Uefa's site.

It's starting at 11. City are in Group 2.

Paul Tergat

Cork get Legia Warsaw

osarusan

Paul Tergat wrote: »

Cork get Legia Warsaw

Horrible draw.

Paz-CCFC

On a positive note, the losers of City v Legia were drawn to get the bye from round two of the EL. So either way, we're guaranteed to qualify for round 3 of the EL. I believe we don't pick up any prize money for the round that we skip, but we get the extra coefficient points for making the later round.

applehunter

Worst draw for City but if they lose they will get a bye into EL Q3.

crushproof

Terrible draw for Cork, really no chance of defeating Warsaw.

doncarlos

Paul Tergat wrote: »

Cork get Legia Warsaw

Shouldn't be any problem for Cork. But for a dodgy penalty Dundalk could have beaten them and Cork fans always play down how good Dundalk are....

In all seriousness, Cork couldn't have gotten them at a better time. They'll still be in preseason and have a few lads coming back from world Cup. I'd give them a small chance but a chance none the less.

doncarlos

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

On a positive note, the losers of City v Legia were drawn to get the bye from round two of the EL. So either way, we're guaranteed to qualify for round 3 of the EL. I believe we don't pick up any prize money for the round that we skip, but we get the extra coefficient points for making the later round.

Will Cork have Legias seeding for it?

major bill

Tough draw for Cork but on the bright side only two rounds off Europa League groups if they drop into it.

Still though wouldn't write them off just yet.

Zico !

Well we can write this tie off not a hope in hell of beating them -try again in europa league have 2 matches under our belts may help

White Horse

I can't believe the negativity among Cork fans. Dundalk went toe to toe with Legia and it was small margins (like an idiot ref) that lost them the tie.

Cork want the same recognition from the sporting public that Dundalk got.

This is where you start getting it. Talk about fall backs and you're already beaten.

Ferris_Bueller

Probably the worst draw they could have got. I'm going to predict a hammering for Cork unfortunately, these guys are regular qualifiers for the group stages, have lads playing at the World Cup and managed to finish ahead of Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League group stage the year they got past Dundalk.

Cork are well capable of winning the league again this year but I think Europe is where their style of play will let them down, they will be worn out chasing the ball around the pitch and Legia won't be bullied either. Hope I am wrong but tough draw.

Interesting that Cork get a bye to the EL 3rd round then, never heard of that before.. Will they be seeded or unseeded in that? If they are unseeded and miss out on the 2nd round prize money that's a bit lousy.

Paz-CCFC

doncarlos wrote: »

Will Cork have Legias seeding for it?

No. Seeding for the EL champions path is based on what round you get knocked out in from the CL. Teams who get knocked out in CL round 2 will be seeded, the sides that win EL round 2 (we'd be considered one of them if we lose to Legia) are unseeded. So, you can only be seeded for one round and if you get through, are unseeded against the teams knocked out above you in the CL.



If we beat Legia, we'll be seeded for round 2 of the CL though.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

MD1990

https://twitter.com/CorkCityFC/status/1009033765203664897

bit weird

Oat23

MD1990 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/CorkCityFC/status/1009033765203664897

bit weird

Banter m8. The mouth breathers that follow those bible-type pages love this sh*te. Roma have figured that out and turned their English twitter into a big joke just for the retweets and the exposure.

fullstop

MD1990 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/CorkCityFC/status/1009033765203664897

bit weird

Absolute cringe.

MD1990

Oat23 wrote: »

Banter m8. The mouth breathers that follow those bible-type pages love this sh*te. Roma have figured that out and turned their English twitter into a big joke just for the retweets and the exposure.

Twitter really is full of sheep.

That is a bit of an embarrasing attempt from Cork.

Oat23

MD1990 wrote: »

Twitter really is full of sheep.

That is a bit of an embarrasing attempt from Cork.

The thing people are blissfully unaware of is a lot of the English language football twitters are run by the same media company. Gladbach, Bayern & Leverkusen are German examples.


Here's a tweet from when the guy accidentally tweeted a Gladbach tweet out on the Bayern account.
https://i.imgur.com/OChzSMt.jpg

These twitters are always 'bantering' with each other in the lead up to games and it's even more cringeworthy when you know it's the same guy tweeting to himself back and forth..

callaway92

MD1990 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/CorkCityFC/status/1009033765203664897

bit weird

Embarrassing

citytillidie

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Probably the worst draw they could have got. I'm going to predict a hammering for Cork unfortunately, these guys are regular qualifiers for the group stages, have lads playing at the World Cup and managed to finish ahead of Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League group stage the year they got past Dundalk.

Cork are well capable of winning the league again this year but I think Europe is where their style of play will let them down, they will be worn out chasing the ball around the pitch and Legia won't be bullied either. Hope I am wrong but tough draw.

Interesting that Cork get a bye to the EL 3rd round then, never heard of that before.. Will they be seeded or unseeded in that? If they are unseeded and miss out on the 2nd round prize money that's a bit lousy.

Legia Warsaw have qualified a grand total of once to the group stages of the Champions League

Ferris_Bueller

citytillidie wrote: »

Legia Warsaw have qualified a grand total of once to the group stages of the Champions League

Group stages of Europa League I meant, they have qualified for the group stages of either the CL or EL 5 times in the last 7 or 8 years.

Zebra3

MD1990 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/CorkCityFC/status/1009033765203664897

bit weird

No words for that.

And what’s the story with all the stars around the crest? One for each season?

citytillidie

Second qualifying round draw (matches 24/25 July & 31 July/1 August)
Champions Path
Cork City (IRL)/Legia Warszawa (POL) V Spartak Trnava (SVK)/Zrinjski (BIH)

Paz-CCFC

Jesus, Legia are getting in on it as well.


https://twitter.com/LegiaWarsawEN/status/1009053659915833344

Zebra3 wrote: »

No words for that.

And what’s the story with all the stars around the crest? One for each season?

Those stars represent the European flag. You probably wouldn't know a lot about that, it's not like Shelbourne have played in Europe any time recently.

Corholio

Fairly cringey alright, can do a lot better than that. Although it's similarly weird the offence some people take specifically to a tweet these days, 'banter' on places like here isn't mostly any better.

White Horse

Some 10 year old has gotten hold of Cork's twitter account. Take it off him before he embarrasses the league any further.