UCD granted permission to participate in Europa League

UEFA has informed the Football Association of Ireland that it has granted special permission to UCD to participate in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League.

The FAI had made a request to UEFA for the extraordinary application of the club licensing system in respect of UCD, in accordance with Article 15 and Annex IV of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations (Edition 2012). UEFA made its decision following the assessment of the documentary evidence which had been submitted in order to demonstrate compliance with the set criteria.

UCD had qualified for the Europa League after the Republic of Ireland was granted an extra place after finishing third in UEFA’s 2014-15 Fair Play table. UCD had finished third in the 2014 SSE Airtricity League Fair Play table but qualified as first place Dundalk and second place Cork City had already qualified for the Champions League and Europa League respectively.

As a result of UCD receiving their UEFA Licence the SSE Airtricity League has announced a number of fixture changes because of the participation in Europe. The First Division game between UCD and Shelbourne originally scheduled for Friday, July 3 has been rescheduled to Tuesday, June 9 at The UCD Bowl with a kick-off time of 7.45 pm while the UCD v Athlone Town fixture, originally scheduled for Friday, July 10, has been rescheduled to Sunday, July 12 at The UCD Bowl with a kick-off time of 7pm.