Michael O’Neill. Stephen Kenny. Filippo Giovagnoli. That’s the entirety of the list of managers who have led a League of Ireland club to the group stages of any European competition.
After beating KI Klaksvik 3-1 in their qualifying playoff at the Aviva Stadium last night, the Co Louth team take their place in the group stage draw alongside the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Roma and Napoli.
Giovagnoli has already said that he wants to take on Spurs because José Mourinho is “an icon of soccer”.
Here is all you need to know ahead of the draw.
When is it?
The Europa League group stage draw will take place at 12pm on Friday, October 2nd at Uefa headquarters in Nyon.
How does it work?
A total of 48 teams have been split in to four pots with teams being drawn in to 12 groups of four. Two teams from the same country cannot be drawn against each other. Dundalk will be in pot four.
How can I follow the draw?
The draw is live on BT Sport 2 while Uefa are also providing a free stream on their website.
So, what are the pots?
The four pots are as follows:
Pot 1: Arsenal, Tottenham, Roma, Napoli, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Villareal, CSKA Moscow, Braga, Gent, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic
Pot 2: Dinamo Zagreb, Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague, Ludogorets, Young Boys, Red Star Belgrade, Rapid Vienna, Leicester City, Qarabag, PAOK, Standard Liege, Real Sociedad
Pot 3: Granada, AC Milan, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, AEK Athens, Rangers, Molde, Hoffenheim, LASK, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Cluj
Pot 4: Zorya Luhansk, Nice, Lille, NK Rijeka, Dundalk, Slovan Liberec, Royal Antwerp, Lech Poznan, Sivasspor, Wolfsberger, Omonia Nicosia, CSKA Sofia
When do the matches start?
The first group stage matches will take place on October 22nd with the following rounds being played on October 29th, November 5th, November 26th, December 3rd and December 10th.
Anything else we should know?
Yes, VAR will not be used in the group stages, as originally planned. There is also the possibility that some home fans will be at matches as Uefa yesterday said they plan to allow attendances of up to 30 per cent (with no away fans) at European matches, subject to local restrictions. The FAI said yesterday that they are examining Uefa’s plan and that some Dundalk fans may be able to watch their team play Europa League home matches at the Aviva Stadium.
