Shelbourne to face Troy Parrott’s AZ Alkmaar in maiden Conference League phase

DRAW: Shelbourne to face Troy Parrott’s AZ Alkmaar in maiden Conference League phase. Pic: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images

Shelbourne will travel to take on Troy Parrott’s AZ Alkmaar in their-ever league phase of Uefa European competition.

Joey O’Brien’s Reds will also face FA Cup winners Crystal Palace at home, along with hosting Drita (Kosovo) and BK Hacken (Sweden). Their three away matches are in the Netherlands against Alkmaar, Celje (Slovenia) and Shkenija (Macedonia).

Rovers reached the knockout stage of the last Conference league, missing out on a last-16 spot by losing to Molde on penalties.

Their third league phase in four years delivered matches against Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Celje (Slovenia) and Hamrun Spartans (Malta) at home, with trips to Sparta Prague (Czech Republic), AEK Athens (Greece) and Breidablik (Iceland).

Shels have banked €3.8m from their run through four qualifying teams, with Rovers grossing €3.7m for their three ties through the non-champions path.

A win in the league phase adds €400,000 for each victory, €133,000 for a draw and a guaranteed TV market share payment to be quantified later in the competition. Earnings for Rovers last year rose to €7.26m.

Reds owners Mickey O’Rourke and the Doyle brothers Neil and Cathal, were joined by chief executive Mossy Quinn and technical director Luke Byrne in attending the ceremony in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. They flew from Belfast this morning after last night’s 2-0 victory completed a 5-1 aggregate triumph over All-Island rivals Linfield.

Under the revamped league system, no physical draw takes place. In fact, to hammer home the point, well-heeled Uefa arranged for a magician to appear on stage to make the balls disappear.

Eden Hazard was Uefa’s special guest, on account of his former club Chelsea winning last year’s competition, and the extent of his exertions was to press the computer button to deliver fixtures for each team.

Eight matches for teams in the Europa League and six for the Conference League.

Shelbourne resided in the bottom of the six pots owing to their low historical coefficient, whereas Shamrock Rovers were flying high in the second, but a condition of the draw is preventing teams from the same country being drawn together.

The exact calendar hasn’t been revealed.

Uefa confirmed those dates will be confirmed by Sunday and we know the Irish dates are influenced by the fact both Rovers and Shels will be using the same venue.

Minimum standards at this stage debar Shels from continuing to use Tolka Park, necessitating a switch across Dublin to Tallaght Stadium, owned by the local authority.

Match 1: October 2 

Match 2: October 23 

Match 3: November 6.

Match 4: November 27.

Match 5: December 11.

Match 6: December 18.

The Conference League league phase comprised the 24 winners of the Conference League play-off round, as well as 12 losers of the Europa League playoff round.

The 36 participating teams will were split into four pots based on their individual coefficient ranking with the Uefa Champions League titleholder the top seed in Pot 1. Starting with Pot 1, one physical ball was drawn before the automated software – already in use last year – draws eight opponents for them, taking into account the following principles:

Two teams from each of the four pots, with one home and one away match against teams from each pot drawn by the software.

No teams from the same association drawn against each other.

No more than two opponents from the same association.

Following the completion of the league phase on December 18, the top eight ranked teams will receive a bye to the round of 16 on March 12 and 19.

The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase playoffs on February 19 and 26, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw.

Teams ranked from 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the competition.

Quarter-finals are to be played on April 9 and 16, semis on April 30 and May 7 with the final scheduled for May 27 at the home of RB Leipzig in Germany.