Who are Shamrock Rovers’ European opponents PAOK plus details on kick-off, ticketing, streaming and random assorted match day facts on Thursday’s Europa League play-off second leg in Tallaght.

PAOK Salonika players applaud fans after the UEFA Conference League Quarter Final Leg Two match between PAOK Saloniki and Olympique Marseille at Toumba Stadium on April 14, 2022 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

PAOK Salonika players applaud fans after the UEFA Conference League Quarter Final Leg Two match between PAOK Saloniki and Olympique Marseille at Toumba Stadium on April 14, 2022 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Credit: Photo by Alexander Scheuber - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

Who are PAOK?

They are the reigning Greek champions having been title winners on four occasions – prior to them winning the most recent Greek Super League, they were last champions in 2018/19. They won the Greek Cup last in 2021.

Where will Thursday’s game be played and what time is kick-off?

There is an 8pm kick-off in Tallaght for this one on Thursday.

What plays over the PA when Shamrock Rovers enter the pitch?

For the warmup it is ‘Grace’ by Sinéad O’Connor – presumably in honour of Rovers’ Carrick-on-Suir central defender Lee Grace. Ahead of kick-off, the PA blasts out ‘Build me up Buttercup’ by the Foundations so not quite the AC/DC ‘Hells Bells’ that PAOK play.

Can I get a ticket for this match?

Yes, they are available here: https://www.shamrockrovers.ie/first-team-tickets/

Can I watch this match on free-to-air television in Ireland?

Eh…no.



What can I watch instead on the telly?

RTÉ has live coverage of the Paralympics from Paris from 7pm to 9pm followed directly after by Wonder Woman 1984.

Virgin Media Two have Moneyball with Brad Pitt.- sorry no it is the Moneyball game show hosted by former Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright.

TG4 has a programme about rain called Báisteach.

What if I want to watch the match online?

Shamrock Rovers have organised a PPV stream for this one with Con Murphy and Barry Murphy (no relation) on match commentary duties.



If a spectator gets on the pitch to take a selfie with a player during the match, how much will Shamrock Rovers be fined?

UEFA hit the Hoops with an €8,000 fine for such an incident in the home game against Sparta Prague in the Champions League qualifiers.

Any details on fines for throwing objects or blocking the public walkways in the stadium?

Well UEFA has come down hard on PAOK on these items this season. This is their fine from their Champions League first round qualifier at home in the Toumba Stadium against Borac Banja Luka:

Blocking of public passageways - €28,000

Throwing of objects - €3,750

Who is PAOK’s manager?

Their manager is Razvan Lucescu who is in his second term in charge of the club having won the Greek league and cup double in 2018/19 in his previous spell.

The Romanian boasts an impressive managerial record, however he is not the most successful manager in his family as his father is the legendary Mircea Lucescu - the man who was responsible for Shaktar Donetsk's success in Europe, and was also in charge of Zenit St Petersburg when they faced Dundalk in 2016 as well as being the second most successful European manager of all time with 37 titles.

What European pedigree do they have?

PAOK reached the quarter final stage of the 1973-74 European Cup Winners' Cup and have appeared in the Europa League Group Stages nine times. In 2011, they played Rovers, Rubin Kazan and Tottenham Hotspur in the group stage. They beat Rovers 2-1 in Greece with Karl Sheppard scoring for the Hoops and 3-1 in Tallaght Stadium with Billy Dennehy on the scoresheet for the Irish champions that night.

They made the quarter-final of the Conference League in 2021/22 losing to Marseille having beaten Bohs 3-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying round and last season when they lost 2-1 on aggregate to Club Brugge.

Who to watch out for?

Their squad is packed with internationals.

A familiar face to Rovers fans will be Portuguese right sided player and Euro 2016 winner Vieirinha who scored against Shamrock Rovers in that 2011 match in Greece. After a few years in Germany, with Wolfsburg, he is back with PAOK and is currently the club captain and was an unused sub in the first leg in Greece.

Andrija Zivkovic is another danger around the box, the former Serbian Under 20 World Cup winner joined the club from Benfica in autumn 2020. He played in all three group stage matches at the recent Euros lining out against England, Slovenia and Denmark and was a standout player in the first leg.

The ex-Wolves and wonderfully named Jonny Otto is their full back.

Baba Rahman, who spent a long time on Chelsea’s books being loaned out to Schalke, Reims and Reading, signed permanently for PAOK last year and in the first leg he had one goal ruled out due to VAR but scored deep into injury time in the second half.

What are their recent results?

They have played just two league games winning both of them at home. In the opening league game of the season, they won 3-2 against Panserraikos with Stefan Schwab scoring a brace from the penalty spot to go with a first half injury time goal by Magomed Ozdoev. Last Sunday they won 2-0 at home to Panetolikos - Joan Sastre and Tarik Tissoudali scored the second half goals.

That was their sixth game of the 2024/25 season having previously played four Champions League qualifiers prior to that Greek Super League game and last week’s first leg against the Hoops.

They entered the European qualifiers in the second qualifying round defeating Borac Banja Luka home (3-2) and away (1-0). In the next round they then drew 2-2 in Malmo before losing 4-3 at home after extra-time to drop into the Europa League play-off. They played five pre-season friendlies beating Larnaca 2-1 before losing to Hibs, Genk, Union St. Gilloise and Vitesse Arnhem.

What formation do they play?

In the last year 4-2-3-1 is their preferred set up (60%) – and they have used that in all their European games this season. They went 4-2-3-1 against Rovers and in last weekend’s league game. The lined out 4-4-2 22% in the last year and did so in their first league game of the season.

Who is the referee in charge of this game?

Donatas Rumšas from Lithuania will have the whistle for this one as per our refwatch article.

If Rovers lose are they out of Europe?

No, they drop into the Conference League and here is our explainer on the draw:

What has Stehen Bradley got to say about the European campaign to come?

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile