Teams Dundalk could face in the Champions League

It’s that time of the year again with European fever hitting the League of Ireland once again. Reigning champions Dundalk will wait anxiously for their fate from Monday’s second round Champions League qualifying draw with many well-known and successful European sides included in the list of potential opponents.

Dundalk, having finished champions in last year’s Premier Division, will enter in the second qualifying round and have no less than 17 potential opponents open to them given their poor coefficient standing. 

Celtic

The list includes many top clubs, one of which is 1967 European Cup winners Celtic FC. The Scottish giants have dominated their own league for several years winning the last four titles in a row and are no strangers to the Champions League. The reigning SPL champions have been involved in two of the last three group stages and in those campaigns have beaten teams such as Spartak Moscow, Ajax and none other than current Champions League holders FC Barcelona.

The Scots have in fact faced the Lilywhites previously in European competition. After defeating Linfield 3-1 on aggregate in the preceding round, Dundalk were then drawn with Celtic. The club from Louth fought well in Glasgow but just fell short of a 3-2 score line and couldn’t rescue the tie at Oriel Park with the final score reading 0-0 (3-2 on aggregate).

Although Celtic haven’t faced Dundalk since in European competition, they have been on the island three times since to compete. In 1986/87, they faced Shamrock Rovers in which the Scots came out on top of a 3-0 aggregate score line and then in 1998/99 they were in Dublin again as part of their tie with St. Patrick’s Athletic in which Celtic won 2-0 on aggregate. And as recently as 2013 they travelled to Belfast to face Cliftonville whom they dispatched comfortably, 5-0 on aggregate. It is clear that Dundalk will hope to avoid Celtic if possible come Monday’s draw as the Scottish giants have never lost a game against any side from the island, north or south of the border. 

Dynamo Zagreb

Another of the bigger sides that could await Dundalk in Monday’s draw is Croatian league champions Dynamo Zagreb. The Croats have been involved in at least the Europa League group stages for the last 8 seasons with two of these campaigns coming in the Champions League group stage. So they will have no doubt of what is in store in the gruelling qualification campaign that lies ahead.

They are far from being novices and will provide a stern test for Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk side should the European footballing Gods decide to have the pair lock horns. It will be a completely new venture if they are to be drawn together as Dundalk have never faced the Croats in competitive European action before. 

Steua Burcharest

The highest ranked side that Dundalk can face are Romanian outfit Steua Bucharest. The Romanians are another previous winner included in Dundalk’s potential opponents having won the Champions League in 1986 along with being runners up three years later.

The Romanian league champions last competed in the Champions League proper in the 2013/14 and collected a total of 3 points, with their adventure ending at the group stages. Steau Bucharest are well accustomed to European competition in recent times having competed in at least the Europa League group stages for the last 11 seasons, four of which were in the Champions League group stages.

The club’s biggest achievement in Europe in recent years has been reaching the UEFA Cup semi-final stage in 2005/06. Undoubtedly, the Romanians are one of the biggest sides that the Lilywhites can face at this early stage and will be another one Stephen Kenny will be desperate to avoid. 

Malmo

There are a whole host of other top clubs that Dundalk could face including a possible trip to Sweden to face Malmo. The Swedes competed in last year’s Champions League proper but didn’t make it past the group stages with their only win coming against Greek outfit Olympiacos.

The two sides have in fact met in European competition before with the tie coming in the 1995/96 edition of the UEFA Cup as the Swedish side came out on top of a 4-0 aggregate score line having won both legs 2-0.

Malmo were back in Ireland in 2013/14 to compete in the Europa League qualifying stages, Europe’s secondary competitions latest name, with Drogheda United. Despite the first leg ending 0-0 in the Drogs’ adoptive ground, Tallaght Stadium, they were eventually knocked out after their 2-0 loss in Malmo. 

Unknown Quantities

Despite having the possibility of facing some well-known European clubs, there are a few teams that many League of Ireland fans will not be aware of and possibly should be aware of when you consider some of the achievements that these sides have earned.

Qarabag

One of these is Azerbaijani league champions Qarabag. Last year was possibly the first time many people outside of Azerbaijan would have become aware of them when they competed in the Europa League group stage for the first time in their history. They collected six points in their adventure which ended at the group stages but they did manage to surprisingly win away from home against eventual finalists Dnipro.

Videoton

The Hungarian outfit is not a household name however they are not shy of a European upset as well. The only time Videoton have competed in the group stage of a European competition was in 2012/13 series of the Europa League. They earned two incredible victories against two experienced European sides. Firstly, they won easily 3-0 against Sporting Lisbon of Portugal before then beating Swiss side Basel 2-1.

KF Skenderbeu

Albanian outfit KF Skenderbeu are possibly the weakest team that Dundalk can face, they are the least successful side in European competition. Albanian Super League winners, like Dundalk, have never competed in the Champions League proper and will want to change that statistic this year.

They are possibly the one that most Dundalk fans will be looking to draw on Monday, however unknown teams can often cause the greatest upsets.

Although there are many glamour ties open to Dundalk as outlined at the top of this article, Stephen Kenny is adamant that they would rather have progression than a luxurious fixture. 

“I’m not looking for a glamour tie, I want to win. We’re in the business of winning matches. We don’t have an inferiority complex so we don’t want a glamour tie just to collect a few jerseys, we’re not into that,” said the Dundalk boss in a recent interview with the Dundalk Democrat.

The reigning champions’ manager has expressed his desire to partake in as many games as possible in football’s biggest competition:

“We want to win games and we want to progress so ideally we want one of the lowest possible seeds. That would guarantee us a minimum of six matches in Europe.

“This group of players got good experience last year and I think I’ve been involved in 26 European games. I want more and I’m hungry for more. European football is the level you want to be playing at,” concluded Kenny during his interview with the Dundalk Democrat.

There are no easy games at this level but the Lilywhites’ most realistic chances of progression would be Hungarian side Videoton or Albanian outfit KF Skenderbeu who are the lowest rank clubs that they can face. A victory in their tie, with whoever they are drawn with, will see the league champions unlock a minimum of four more European games, which for a League of Ireland club is massive not just for exposure but also for the huge financial benefits. For just getting into the third round of the Champions League qualifying stages, Dundalk will pocket at least €1 million. 

A full list of Dundalk’s potential opponents are below: 

Steua Bucharest (Romania), Celtic (Scotland), Apoel (Cyprus), Bate Borisov (Belarus), Ludogrets (Bulgaria), Dynamo Zagreb (Croatia), Maribor (Slovenia), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Lech Poznan (Poland), Partizan Belgrade (Serbia), Malmo (Sweden), Qarabag (Azerbaijan), HJK Helsinki (Finland), Molde (Norway), Midtjylland (Denmark), Videoton (Hungary) and KF Skenderbeu (Albania).

You can listen to this week’s ET Sportscast here and we also have a BONUS European special out at the moment, which can be listened to here.