Stephen Bradley: ‘It’s a difficult group but you expect that.’ Europa Conference League: Kick-offs/dates confirmed, opponent pedigree and prize money

Shamrock Rovers celebrate Andy Lyons' winner against Ferencvaros in the second leg of their Europa League play-off in Tallaght

Shamrock Rovers celebrate Andy Lyons' winner against Ferencvaros in the second leg of their Europa League play-off in Tallaght Credit: Eddie Lennon (ETPhotos)

Over the weekend, UEFA confirmed the dates and kick-off times for Shamrock Rovers’ Europa Conference League games in a group that Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley describes as "difficult".

However the Hoops are happy that they have been allocated 8pm kick-offs for all three of their Group F home in Tallaght Stadium against Gent, Molde and Djurgarden. All three away matches have the earlier 5.45pm kick off (Irish time). 

“It was never going to be easy,” said Bradley about the draw. “It’s the group stages. We could have got one or two easier games, but we also could have got one or two harder games. It’s a difficult group but you expect that. We’re looking forward to it - they should be really good games.”

Thursday nights are Europa Conference League nights and first up Rovers will welcome Djurgarden to Tallaght on 8 September followed by a trip to Gent on 15 September.

Their Scandi swing begins in Norway against Molde on 6 October, with the return clash in Tallaght a week later.

Rovers play Gent at home on 27 October before their final group game in Stockholm against Djurgarden on 3 November.

The winner of the group goes into the last 16 phase, while the runner up enters the last 32 to face a third placed team from the Europa League. 

Brilliant

The Hoops reached the group stages after winning their second leg against Ferencvarosi TC 1-0 in the UEFA Europa League play-off round (losing 4-1 on aggregate). Their overall record this year in Europe reads: P8 W5 D1 L2.



“It was a brilliant night,” said Bradley as his side made it four wins from their four home games in Europe this season.

“We obviously gave ourselves far too much to do from the first leg, but we knew we could perform better and felt we could go and win the game if we hit our levels, and we did.

"We got a result against a top side. It was a really good night for the club with Tallaght Stadium sold out and a 1-0 win against a top European team.”

In Friday’s draw in Türkiye, the Hoops were in pot three and, using the UEFA ranking, drew the fourth best team from Pot 1 (Gent), second best from pot two (Molde) and fifth best from the lowest ranked pot (Djurgarden).

Gent

Belgian side Gent reached the group stages after losing 4-0 on aggregate to Cypriot side Omonoia in the Europa League play-off. 



They also made the Conference League last year when they topped a group that included Flora Tallinn (who defeated the Hoops in that competition’s play-off round) before they were eliminated in the last 16 by PAOK (who knocked out Bohemians earlier in the qualifying campaign).

They currently sit third in the Belgium table.

They made the group stages of the Europa League in 2020 and their most recent Champions League group stage appearance came in 2015.

Molde

Molde of Norway progressed through three rounds in the Europa Conference League to reach the group stage defeating Elfsborg (6-2), Hungarian side Kisvarda (4-2) and Wolfsberger (4-1) in the play-off. 

Domestically they sit top of the Norwegian league. In the last five seasons, they finished runners up in the Tippeligaen four times and were champions in 2019.

They played in Tallaght Stadium back in 2020 beating Dundalk when the Lilywhites were the last League of Ireland side to make the group stages of a European competition. They won the home tie 3-1.

Molde finished runners up to Arsenal in that group, beat Hoffenheim 5-3 on aggregate in the last 16 before being knocked out by Granada in the last 16.

They last made the group stages in the 2015 Europa League.

Djurgarden

Swedish side Djurgarden also progressed through three rounds to reach this stage of the competition. They recorded victories over Croatian side Rijeka (4-1), Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe (6-2) and APOEL (5-3). 

They currently sit third in the Swedish Allsvenskan table. 

Djurgarden have faced Shamrock Rovers previously when 20 years ago they defeated the Hoops 5-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup. They won the tie in Dublin, played at Tolka Park, 3-1 with Stephen McGuinness scoring Rovers’ goal.

Their only appearance in a UEFA group stage prior to this season was the 1996 Intertoto Cup.

Prize money

The Hoops have banked €3.607m so far this season.

This is made up of €2.94m for making the group stages, €100,000 for each of the four qualifying round they took part in and an additional €267,000 by way of a ten-year coefficient ranking (Dundalk received €143,000 in the 2020/21 Europa League from that coefficient ranking).

Rovers will also receive money from the TV market pool at the end of the competition. In 2016, Dundalk received €582,700 while in 2020 the Lilywhites picked up €343,000.

Prize money for positive results in the six group games is €500,000 for a win and €166,000 for a draw. 

As UEFA pay out €320,000 for a draw (half to each team in the drawn game) which is €166,000 less than paid for a win, they pool that €166,000 remainder and distribute it to the four teams in the group in amounts to each club proportional to their number of wins.

The group winners earn €625,000, while the runners up pick up €325,000.

Coefficient details

Rovers 1-0 second leg win over Ferenvaros added another 0.25 to the League of Ireland coefficient. This is based on gaining a point for the win, divided by the number of clubs the League of Ireland had in Europe this season (4). Ireland are currently ranked 36th with an overall coefficient of 9.875.

The Hoops now have the opportunity to add further to the coefficient in the group stages where a win is worth two points (which in Ireland’s case would add 0.5 to the overall coefficient) and a draw (0.25).

In addition, there are two bonus points for the winners of the group and a one point bonus for the runners-up.

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile