Dundalk FC . back in Europe 2023 . 👏👏👏

[Richie87]

Would the Oriel surface pass the requirements for Europe?

Larne not able to play in Inver Park. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65592682

[seand]

I haven't heard any rumblings or concerns, but alarms bells are ringing if Larne's surface is not up to scratch considering the state of our pitch. But if Larne need to nominate another venue by June 2 then surely we should know by now if there's a potential issue?

Anyway, it's shaking out a bit more. you can see the likely seeds and non-seeds here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%8 ... ying_round

Of our geographically likely opponents I reckon we'd probably want to avoid the Finns. Neither club have a lot of recent Euro experience but the league is a higher standard than ours.

Wikipedia is not committing on second round seedings, but go to Bert for this, and you'll get a better look. "Winners of the tie involving Dundalk" WILL be seeded in the second round. 5th in Scotland will join in this round - Hibs or St Mirren- but they'll be seeded (unless Inverness beat Celtic in the cup final, in which case it'll be the 4th place team Aberdeen or Hearts, and they'll be seeded).

We would definitely be unseeded in the third round when some big hitters join. 5th in Portugal, 4th in Holland (potentially Ajax), 4th in Austria, Serbia, Ukraine, plus all the big second round winners would be potential opponents, liable to include Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Club Brugge, Gent, Legia, Steaua, Maccabi, and teams from Portugal, Holland, etc Last time we were in the third round we were seeded and still ended up playing Vitesse, unseeded it's going to be nasty

[Richie87]

Some potential teams https://twitter.com/IrishUefacoeff

[seand]

Some potential teams https://twitter.com/IrishUefacoeff

Just to note the most recent overview of the Conference League seedings on this twitter account is wrong. Crusaders will be seeded, just about, not unseeded, for example

I'll run through the likely opponents in the next couple of days

[seand]

Here's where we're at, I think.

The first qualifying round draw is coming up on June 20th and you can watch live on UEFA.com. The second qualifying round draw happens the following day. Dundalk’s relatively strong recent record means we will be seeded in the first qualifying round and the second qualifying round if we progress. (We would be unseeded in the third round.)
In the first round of European competitions the draw tends to be informally regionalised, meaning Dundalk are very likely to face a Northern/Western European opponent. This is not guaranteed, but here’s a look at some of our possible unseeded opponents.
Northern Ireland: Linfield and Crusaders will both be seeded in round one so cannot face Dundalk, but Conference League playoff winners Glentoran will be unseeded. (Linfield would be seeded in rd 2, Crusaders would be unseeded)
Wales: Connahs Quay Nomads will be seeded in round one, the other two Welsh clubs would be unseeded. European debutants Penybont from South Wales would probably need to host their game at Cardiff Met University’s ground. Haverfordwest County won through the complex end-of-season Conference League playoff, despite finishing 7th in the league. It’s their second European jaunt and the first in 19 years. They would probably have to host a game in Aberystwyth. (Connahs Quay would be unseeded in rd 2)
Iceland: Both qualifiers would be unseeded, Vikingur from Reykjavik and KA from Akurkeyri on the north coast.
Faroes: Both HB and B36 will be seeded, but Vikingur will be unseeded. (All would be unseeded in rd2)
Finland: Both qualifiers would be unseeded and would likely prove difficult opponents given the relative strength of the Finnish league- Honka from Espoo near Helsinki and Haka from Valkaekoski.
Estonia: Levadia and Paide will be seeded, cup winners Trans Narva will be unseeded. Trans have lost their last 20 games in Europe. (All would be unseeded in rd2)
Lithuania: European debutants Hegelmann and Panevezys will both be unseeded. (Cup winners Auda will be unseeded in rd2)
Belarus: Things are an utter mess in Belarus, see above. Dinamo Minsk will be seeded in the first round and European debutants Isloch will be unseeded. (In the second round Dinamo and cup winners Torpedo will be unseeded)
The two qualifiers from Latvia, Luxembourg and Andorra will all be seeded in round one. (Riga and Dudelange would be seeded in rd2)

The second round brings in some strong team from Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland, Serbia and Portugal among others. Dundalk would be seeded in the second round thereby avoiding the really big hitters, but the luck of the draw is key. We could face a weak first round qualifier or an unseeded side with little recent European experience from a strongish league- like Luzern from Switzerland, AGF from Denmark or Vojvodina from Serbia, or any of the 3 Hungarian qualifiers.

[mike]

Thanks Sean for this.

Iceland with the clubs on the north of the island would add a fair bit of travel. For ease of travel the two from South Wales def the best, easy flights into Cardiff or even Bristol (I did that before going to Cardiff - not that far).

I'd like a trip to Lithuania, never been, hope we avoid Estonia as been in 2018 but would prob go again.

Good point also on some of the unseeded teams being strong, a memory not to far away on that was Vitesse were unseeded in 2021, and if we didn't have Abibi and Sonni, we could have beaten them.