Shamrock Rovers could face Chelsea in lucrative new Conference League format

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley after the UEFA Europa League play-off second leg match between Shamrock Rovers and PAOK at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Shamrock Rovers could be pitted against Chelsea when Friday’s groupings for the reformatted Uefa Conference League are drawn in Monaco (1.30pm, Irish time).

This is the second time in three years that the Irish champions have progressed from the qualifying phase, their status on the Champions path ensuring a victory apiece in the Champions and Europa League opening scrambles secured a lucrative place in the third competition’s league phase.

It soars their prize money to €3.8m but also guarantees six matches, three home and away, against the elite class between October 3 and December 19.

The 36 teams participating in this new format will jostle for progression to the knockout stage, which has introduced another playoff hurdle to confirm the last 16 in March.

Chelsea spearhead the glamour names in the jamboree, sitting at the summit with the highest coefficient of the entries. They made hard work in seeing off Servette, surviving a 2-1 loss in Thursday’s second leg in Switzerland to escape with a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

Also in Pot 1 of the draw are Copenhagen, conquerors of Manchester United in last season’s Champions League, Belgian outfit Gent, Italians Fiorentina, completed by LASK of Austria and Spaniards Real Betis.

Rovers are in Pot 4, while Larne, the first-ever group stage participants from Northern Ireland, reside in Pot 6.

How will the league phase draw be carried out?

All 36 teams will be manually drawn using physical balls. For every team manually drawn, a designated automated software will randomly draw six opponents across the six pots, who will be revealed on screen in the draw hall and on television. The software will also decide which matches will be at home and which ones away.

The draw will start with Pot 1, assigning six opponents to all six teams, one after the other, and will continue with the other pots in descending order until all teams have been assigned their six opponents. The software will guarantee total randomness within the framework of the draw conditions stipulated by the regulations (e.g. country protection and no more than two opponents from the same country), while guaranteeing that the draw can be completed for all teams without resulting at any point in a deadlock situation.

Even though the teams will know all their opponents by the end of the draw, the fixture list with match dates and kick-off times will be elaborated afterwards and announced on Saturday August 31, to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League playing in the same cities.

2024/25 Conference League: League phase draw pots 

Pot 1: Chelsea (ENG) Copenhagen (DEN) Gent (BEL) Fiorentina (ITA) LASK (AUT) Real Betis (ESP) 

Pot 2: Başakşehir (TUR) Molde (NOR) Legia Warszawa (POL) Heidenheim (GER) Djurgården (SWE) APOEL (CYP) 

Pot 3: SK Rapid (AUT) Omonoia (CYP) Helsinki (FIN) Vitória SC (POR) Astana (KAZ) Olimpija (SVN) 

Pot 4: Cercle Brugge (BEL) Shamrock Rovers (IRL) The New Saints (WAL) Lugano (SUI) Hearts (SCO) Mladá Boleslav (CZE) 

Pot 5: Petrocub (MDA) St. Gallen (SUI) Panathinaikos (GRE) TSC (SRB) Borac (BIH) Jagiellonia (POL) 

Pot 6: Celje (SVN) Larne (NIR) Dinamo-Minsk (BLR) Pafos (CYP) Víkingur (ISL) Noah (ARM).