Shelbourne F.C. in Europe

Shelbourne F.C. have a long, illustrious history in European competitions, taking on teams such as Sporting Portugal, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Panathinaikos, Rangers, Rosenborg, Brøndby, Hajduk Split, Deportivo de La Coruña, Lille, and Steaua Bucharest.

History

Early European appearances: 1962-1971

Shels first European appearance was a brief unsuccessful one, losing 5-1 away and 2-0 at home, in Dalymount Park, to Sporting Portugal, who the following season would go onto win the Cup Winners' Cup, in the 1962/63 European Cup.

In the 1963/64 Cup-Winners' Cup, Shelbourne faced Barcelona and despite battling bravely were beaten 2-0 at home and 3-1 in the Camp Nou (having taken the lead in the latter).

Then in the following season's Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Shelbourne faced Portuguese side Belenenses. Shels gained a highly credible 1-1 draw in Lisbon, and drew 0-0 at home. As the away goals rule was not in place at the time, a toss of a coin was held to decide the venue for the replay. Shels choose right, and won the replay 2-1 giving the League of Ireland its first major scalp in Europe. Facing Atlético Madrid in the second round who had appeared in the last two Cup Winners' Cup finals, they were narrowly beaten 1-0 in both legs.

In 1971/72, Shels played Hungarian side Vasas in the UEFA Cup but lost 1-0 in Budapest and drew 1-1 at home. Following this, Shels next European appearance would be over 20 years later.

Relatively recent past: 1992-2003

In the European Cup of 1992/93, despite dominating the home leg, the club's first to be played at Tolka Park, Shels could only draw 0-0 with Ukrainian champions Tavriya Simferopol, and lost the away leg 2-1. The following season Shels extracted revenge on Ukrainian football by knocking out Karpaty Lviv 3-2 on aggregate in the Cup Winners Cup. The home leg which Shels won 3-1, saw Brian Mooney score a stunning 35 yarder on a glorious night for the Reds. Shels then lost to Panathinaikos 5-1 on aggregate in the next round.

In 1995 and 1996 Shels suffered disappointing defeats home and away to Akranes of Iceland in the UEFA Cup and Norwegian side Brann in the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1997 Shels were drawn to play Scottish side Kilmarnock. Over 600 fans made the trip for the first leg and despite taking the lead through a fantastic goal by Mark Rutherford, Shels lost 2-1 to an injury time goal. Despite dominating the second leg in Tolka Park, it finished 1-1 and Shels were out.In 1998 Shels came up against Rangers in the UEFA Cup. The home leg was moved to England for security reasons and despite taking a 3-0 lead, Shels ended up losing 5-3. The return leg in Ibrox Stadium finished 2-0 to Rangers.

In 1999, Shels were played in the Intertoto Cup for the first time against Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax. The home leg finished 0-0 and after missing some great chances early on in the away leg, Shels lost out to two late goals.

In 2000, things started looking up for the Reds in Europe. A late Richie Baker free kick gave Shels a 1-0 away win against Macedonian side Sloga Jugomagnat in the Champions League qualifiers. It was a historic first ever away win in Europe for the Reds, and it was also the first away win in a European tie by a League of Ireland side for eighteen years. In the home leg, winning 1-0 with ten minuted to go, Shels conceded a penalty which was converted. With Sloga only needing one more to progrees, Shels survived an injury time scare when defender Owen Heary somehow managed to clear the ball off his own goal line after keeper Steve Williams had been lobbed.

In the second round against Rosenborg, 10,000 fans crammed in to Tolka Park for the first leg, but Shels lost 3-1 despite an excellent performance. The away leg finished 1-1 after Rosenborg grabbed a late equaliser. Richie Foran scored the Reds' goals in both legs.

Brøndby were Shels opponents in the UEFA Cup in 2001/02, and the Danes advanced to the next round after winning 2-0 in Brøndby Stadion and 3-0 in Tolka Park.

The following season saw Shels back in the Champions League qualifiers, but after drawing 2-2 away to Hibernians of Malta, conceded an injury time goal at home and missed out on a second round tie with Boavista.

2003 saw Shels play Slovenian side NK Olimpija of Ljubljana in the UEFA Cup, but Shels lost 1-0 away and 3-2 at home.

UEFA Champions League & UEFA Cup 2004/05

In the 2004/2005 European season, they made history, becoming the first Irish club to reach the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. On this run, Shels beat KR Reykjavík on away goals, followed by a 4-3 aggregate victory against Croatian champions Hajduk Split. This historic run only ended with a loss against Spanish giants, Deportivo La Coruña 3-0, having achieved a 0-0 draw in Lansdowne Road in front of 25,000 fans. That season the club also had the longest European run in Irish history, after the Champions League exit at the hands of Deportivo the club was entered into the UEFA Cup. There Shels met French side Lille and were beaten 4-2 on aggregate, having come back from a two goal deficit in Lansdowne Road to achieve a credible draw thanks to a brace from substitute Glen Fitzpatrick.

UEFA Champions League 2005/06

In the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round, they overcame Glentoran of Northern Ireland 6-2 on aggregate, 2-1 to Shels in The Oval and 4-1 at home in Tolka Park. Jason Byrne scored four of those goals, Glen Crowe and Owen Heary getting the others. They were drawn to play Steaua Bucharest in the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League. The home leg took place on July 27, in Tolka Park, in front of a sell-out crowd and ended in a 0-0 draw. The away leg, on August 3, saw Shelbourne defeated 4-1 in Bucharest, mainly due to a number of individual errors. Jason Byrne was, once again, the goalscorer for Shelbourne.

Intertoto Cup 2006

2006 saw Shelbourne participate in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They initially played Vėtra in the first round, recording a 5-0 aggregate victory. Shelbourne won 1-0 in Lithuania, courtesy of a Sean Dillon headed goal just before the interval which was also the club's 50th European tie. The second leg took place in Dublin on 24 June, with Shelbourne romping to an easy 4-0 home victory over the Lithuanians (with Jason Byrne adding two more goals to his impressive European tally), whose severe discipline problems resulted in the visitors ending the match with only eight players left on the field of play.

Shelbourne played Odense of Denmark in the Second Round, but suffered a 3-0 away defeat in Denmark on the 2nd of July. Shels won the home leg 1-0 thanks to a goal from Cameroon international Joseph Ndo, and are now unbeaten in their last eight home European matches.

UEFA Champions League 2007/08

Despite winning the League of Ireland championship in November 2006, Shelbourne F.C. announced on 29 March 2007 that they would not be applying for a UEFA licence to compete in the 2007/08 Champions League first qualifying round. The club was demoted to the First Division by the FAI before the start of the 2007 season due to ongoing financial problems and it was unlikely they would have secured the necessary licence to take part in the competition. [http://www.shelbournefc.ie/news.php?id=609]

All-time European Record

(Champions' Cup, Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, Fairs Cup, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup)

Records

*Biggest European Win:
**single tie: 4-0 vs Vėtra home, June 24 2006
**aggregate: 5-0 vs Vėtra, June 2006

*Top European scorer:
**season: 5, Jason Byrne, (2004/05)
**total: 8, Jason Byrne, (2003-06)

*Shels have knocked out more teams from European competition than any other Irish side. They have beaten the following sides:
**flagicon|Portugal Belenenses
**flagicon|Ukraine Karpaty Lviv
**flagicon|Macedonia Sloga Jugomagnat
**flagicon|Iceland KR Reykjavik
**flagicon|Croatia Hajduk Split
**flagicon|Northern Ireland Glentoran
**flagicon|Lithuania Vėtra

*Shels are unbeaten in their last 8 home games in European competition, a record for an Irish club. The teams played in this run are:
**flagicon|Iceland KR Reykjavik, "0-0"
**flagicon|Croatia Hajduk Split, "2-0"
**flagicon|Spain Deportivo La Coruña, "0-0"
**flagicon|France Lille, "2-2"
**flagicon|Northern Ireland Glentoran, "4-1"
**flagicon|Romania Steaua Bucharest, "0-0"
**flagicon|Lithuania Vėtra, "4-0"
**flagicon|Denmark Odense, "1-0"

*Shelbourne's 4-0 home win over Vėtra in June 2006 equalled the highest win by a League of Ireland side in a single European tie.

UEFA Ranking

"Correct as of October 1, 2006." [ [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/index.html Bert Kassies' UEFA European Cup Football] By Bert Kassies]

Current Club Ranking

* 213 flagicon|Finland MyPa-47
* 214 flagicon|Moldova Zimbru Chisinau
* =215 flagicon|Ireland Derry City FC
* =215 flagicon|Ireland Shelbourne FC
* 217 flagicon|Macedonia Vardar Skopje
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2007.html Full List]

Current national league UEFA ranking

* 33 flagicon|Finland Finland
* 34 flagicon|Moldova Moldova
* 35 flagicon|Ireland Ireland
* 36 flagicon|Georgia Georgia
* 37 flagicon|Liechtenstein Liechtensteinfn|1:* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2007.html "Full list"]

fnb|1 Liechenstein has no properly recognised league championship. Therefore, the country has no UEFA Champions League entrants, although the cup winners enter the UEFA Cup.

References

External links

Official site:
* [http://www.shelbournefc.ie/ "ShelsWeb"] Independent Supporters Group:
* [http://www.redsindependent.com/ "RedsIndependent.com"]