John Fallon: Uefa's expansion makes LOI progression the expected norm

Chelsea had reason to feel a tad sheepish amid the ticker-tape streaming onto their shoulders at Poland’s Wrocław Stadium last May.

Finishing sixth in the Premier League was, bar their annus horribilis 12th-place finish the year before, their worst performance in nine seasons.

They were mocked as being condemned to the Conference League. Chelsea didn’t even bother registering star man Cole Palmer for the league phase, part of which entailed a 16-hour round trip to freezing Kazakhstan, an inconvenience Enzo Maresca branded “not normal”.

The following week, there was a cosier feel to hosting Shamrock Rovers at Stamford Bridge — a novel Christmas trip for Irish fans.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, at €36m, formed one small cog in that Boehly splurge. Speaking on the pitch after the win, he couldn’t have sounded any less enthusiastic about Chelsea being tipped to go on and lift the trophy.

By July, the Club World Cup triumph banked the club €100m, dwarfing the €17m prize-money received from Uefa after coming from behind to beat Real Betis.

Disparities exist within the world order of the club game, meaning for Irish clubs the Conference League is their equivalent of the Club World Cup.

The next three weeks will determine which of them gain an invite to the league phase draw, held in the salubrious surrounds of Monaco, on August 28.

A total of 108 teams will have their journeys mapped out, divided into three sets of 36 for the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.

Shelbourne could still feature in two, but Europa involvement will require following up defeat of Croatian champions Rijeka by knocking out either Greek side PAOK or Austrians Wolsfberger in the playoff. Most likely is them dropping into the Conference League.

Uefa’s structure favours title-holders, splitting avenues into the champions and main path. Once Shels emerged victorious from their first round against Linfield, they got three lives to pass the threshold into the league phase, raising their earnings beyond the €3m mark.

Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic both entered the Conference League main path.

Armenian club Noah last year became the first club in the competition’s history to navigate all four rounds, three qualifying and the playoff, to reach the league stage.

St Pat’s hurdled three, losing the play-off to Istanbul Basaksehir. To replicate that run this term, they’ve to overcome another Turkish outfit in the third round. Ole Gunnar Solskjær brings Besiktas to Tallaght for the first leg tomorrow.

Rovers bypassed the first round due to the expulsion of Drogheda United. Uefa made an example of the FAI Cup holders on account of US owners Trivela having another qualifier for the competition in Silkeborg.

That their pathway towards progression seems less arduous — Kosovans Ballkani followed by a playoff against Larne or Portuguese outfit Santa Clara — is explained by their strong coefficient.

It was built on the back of four successive Champions League campaigns, the most successful being last season’s march to the knockout stage of the Conference. Hence they are seeded in every round to the league phase, albeit without fallback. Win or bust.

Coefficient is the word that arises to explain some quirks within a convoluted system. It may well be the case that Linfield reappear to block another milestone for Shels.

Although Linfield exited the Champions League qualifying at the first hurdle, historical increments influenced their Conference League tasklist. It features Lithuanian side Zalgiris, who they’ve already overcome, and Faroese outfit Vikingur Gota next up.

There’s also country coefficients to digest. Progression by Rovers last year, their second in three seasons, lifted the League of Ireland into 31st place of Uefa’s rankings.

Once inside the top 33, an Irish team, in this case the FAI Cup winners crowned this December, will start in the Europa League, with the safety net of a Conference place if eliminated.

Runners-up in the league will also skip the first Conference League qualifying round.

Drogheda’s controversial removal risks that elevation lasting more than a sole year because the coefficient will be divided by four despite the League of Ireland having only three participants.

Only three times did Irish teams smash the ceiling of Europa League group phase involvement: Shamrock Rovers in 2011 and Dundalk in 2016 and 2020. They were lauded as exceptions whereas nowadays the expectation of annual advancement is the norm.

Irish teams have overcome opponents from Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, Lithuania, and Estonia so far this season. That’s been the trend in recent years, bar Derry City’s outlier defeat to Gibraltar side Magpies last season.

Riches like nothing currently attainable in domestic competition or international sales are incentives to prioritise Europe.

Over half of Uefa’s 55 member nations were represented in last season’s Conference League phase and the League of Ireland is primed for a repeat. Failure by all three contenders would be simply inexcusable.

Magyars protect veteran president

This day next month Ireland’s World Cup campaign will kick off against Hungary and the visitors are enduring their usual bout of controversy.

Rather than manager Marco Rossi or captain Dominik Szoboszlai, who became a father last week, courting local headlines, it is instead their president Sandor Csanyi.

At 72, he’s long been considered one of the country’s wealthiest individuals, migrating from banking into the lucrative oil industry. He is, unsurprisingly, renowned for his close relationship with prime minister Viktor Orban.

Both share a passion for football, reflected by Csanyi holding his current position at the helm since 2010. He’s made headway on the international stage too, rising to Uefa executive committee level 10 years ago, sharing the forum with one John Delaney. He’s currently Uefa treasurer and Fifa vice-president.

Csanyi’s name has gotten dragged into fan protests in recent months, most vocally from the fans of Ujpest at the Szusza Ferenc Stadium. A section housing the ultras among the 10,000 unfurled a banner stating “Csanyi: Don’t be a gypsy with the rhymes.”

It comes amid a clampdown on anyone found to be engaged in “racist, discriminatory violations during matches”. According to the new regulations, this also includes all kinds of “gypsyism”.

Budapest Honved FC specified the Hungarian president in their message to fans, laying out the threat of a one-year ban to anyone culpable of such actions.

City’s class of 2005 still haunted by double miss

As much as Saturday’s 20-year reunion of Cork City’s title winning was rejoiced, the sense of regret at missing out on the double was clear.

Two weeks after clinching the first Premier title for 12 years, City went into the FAI Cup final against Drogheda United as favourites.

It didn’t work out that way on that freezing December 2005 day, as second half goals by Gavin Whelan and Fabio O’Brien began a golden period for Paul Doolin’s side.

For City, regrets linger over the final preparations. In the modern era, the notion of extended celebrations with a final game still to play is unthinkable. Drogs proved that last year by contesting their survival play-off against Bray Wanderers, having returned to training the day after lifting the cup.

That, however, was the case back then and all players interviewed at Coughlan’s on Saturday replayed that fortnight gap in their heads. Dan Murray rated it as the biggest regret of his career.

Murray and several colleagues did achieve a glint of redemption two years later. They returned to Dublin, this time, the RDS to beat Longford Town 1-0 and hoist the FAI Cup. The double would be landed in 2017.

Email: john.fallon@examiner.ie