Who are Shamrock Rovers' Champions League qualifier opponents Slovan Bratislava?

Shamrock Rovers will play their first Champions League qualifier since 2012 next Wednesday (kick off 5.30pm Irish time) when they take on Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia.

So who are Slovan Bratislava? 

Slovan earned three Czechoslovakian titles in a row between 1949 and 1951 and have won the last three Slovak Super Liga titles. They have also lifted four of the last five Slovak Cups, winning league and cup doubles in the last two seasons.

They play in the 22,500 capacity national stadium and are managed by Vladimir Weiss who played for both Czechoslovakia and Slovakia and managed the Slovakian national team between 2008 and 2012 and Georgia from 2016 to 2020.

His teams played against the Republic of Ireland on eight occasions on the international stage without getting a win. 

His 31-year-old son, also called Vladimir, was the only member of the Slovan squad who played at Euro 2020 with Slovakia. He previously played with Manchester City, Rangers and Espanyol – he also was part of a Bolton Wanderers in 2010 with Shamrock Rovers defender Joey O’Brien.

What European pedigree do Slovan Bratislava have?

The club’s finest moment happened in 1969 when the won the European Cup Winners Cup beating Barcelona 3-2 in the final in Basel.

Like Shamrock Rovers, Slovan qualified for the Europa League groups stages for the first time in 2011. They beat Roma en-route to the groups stages where, like Rovers, they finished bottom of the group but they didn’t lose all six matches like the Hoops. They played out a scoreless draw to PSG in Paris. 

They made the group stages again in 2014 having lost 4-1 on aggregate to BATE Borisov in the Champions League play-off round. 

Slovan have face Irish opposition on a number of occasions. They defeated St Patrick’s Athletic in the old UEFA Cup in 1996 5-3 on aggregate before more recently beating a UCD side which included Shamrock Rovers midfielder Gary O’Neillin 2015 6-1 on aggregate.

In the 2019 Europa League they defeated Dundalk (1-0 at home and 3-1 in Tallaght) in the third round and Greek side PAOK in the play-off round to make the group stages where they earned four points (from a win over Besiktas at home and a 2-2 draw away to Braga).

Last year, they had to forfeit their fixture against Faroe Island side KI due to a positive COVID-19 test in their squad and then lost to 4-3 on penalties to Finnish side KuPS after their one-legged tie ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.      

Who to watch out for? 

The Slovan squad has a lot of international experience in it including Hungarian international midfielder David Holman – he has played in the Europa League group stages previously during his time with Lech Poznan. Their skipper is the 34 time capped Bulgarian international Vasil Bozhikov. 

Serb under-21 international Dejan Drazic played in La Liga with Celta Vigo and spent time with Real Valladolid. Joeri de Kamps, Suriname defender Myenty Abena as well as former Nigerian and Celtic midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim have all played in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie.

Rafael Ratao is a striker from Brazil and he scored nine goals in 21 league appearances last season. Also up front is David Strelec who scored in the 2022 World Cup qualifier against Malta – he only missed out on going to the Euros due to injury.

Who will the winners face in the Champions League second qualifying round

The winners of this tie will play Swiss side Young Boys in the next qualifying round of the Champions League with the ties set for 20/21 and 27/28 July.

The champions of Switzerland played in the Europa League group stages in four of the last five seasons (failing each time to progress into the knock out stages) and they played in Champions League groups stages in 2018/19.

Who will the losers face in the Europa Conference qualifiers?

The losers of the Champions League first qualifying round drop into the second round of the Europa Conference qualifiers. However, as a result of getting a bye from the second round, the losers of the Rovers/Slovan tie will enter at the third qualifying of UEFA’s new club competition.

What are Slovan’s recent results?

Slovan are still in pre-season. They have played four friendlies with their most recent result a 1-1 draw with Ziln. The first league fixture is not until 24 July. 

Who is the match official for this tie?

Austrian ref Sebastian Gishamer will be in charge of the first leg. He was the referee last season for Celtic’s 6-0 win over KR Rekjavik in the Champions League qualifiers. He also took charge for Northern Ireland’s 3-0 win in Malta last May. He has been officiating in the top flight of the Austrian Bundesliga since 2015/16 and has been officiating in UEFA senior European competitions since 2019/20. 

The officiating team for second leg in Tallaght Stadium will be led by Croatian referee Mario Zebec.

Additional reporting by Niall Newbury

League Report: @bfcdublin 3 – 2 @stpatsfchttps://t.co/nAulXqiNTxpic.twitter.com/nKFKwHXe3u

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) July 3, 2021