by Ciggy » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:20 am
Shelbourne now seeded, Im glad we cant play against them they played well in the last qualifiers and probably the type to knock us out.
Shels denied Liverpool meeting
June 11, 2005
eircom League champions Shelbourne cannot face Champions League holders Liverpool in next month’s first qualifying round for the 2005/06 tournament - despite the fact that the Anfield side were handed a place in the earliest possibility preliminary round draw by Uefa on Friday.
Liverpool had fought to earn the chance to defend the trophy they won in most dramatic circumstances against AC Milan last month.
Having finished fifth in the Premiership, they were in danger of being consigned to the Uefa Cup, but Uefa changed its Champions League rules to allow the Reds back in for next season.
That decision had given rise to the possibility that two-time eircom League kingpins Shels could land the most high-profile tie in Europe in mid-July.
However, Shels success in the competition last year, when they defeated KR Reykjavik and Hajduk Split before bowing out after a good performance against Deportivo La Coruna, has ensured that they, like Liverpool, are one of the 12 seeded teams for the first qualifying round draw.
The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds of the tournament takes place in Nyon, Switzerland next Friday week, June 24th.
Shels, Liverpool and 22 other sides – including Total Network Solutions from Wales and Irish League representatives Glentoran – will go into the hat for the first qualifying round draw.
Turkish side Fenerbahce benefited most from Liverpool’s inclusion in the competition, stepping up from the third qualifying round to take the place in the group stages normally given to the holders.
The full list of clubs to enter Champions League at the first qualifying round is as follows:
Seeded teams: Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia), NK Gorica (Slovenia), Shelbourne (Republic of Ireland), Liverpool (England), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus), Sheriff (Moldova), FC Skonto (Latvia), FC Haka (Finland), NK Zrinjski (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), FBK Kaunas (Lithuania), FH Hafnarfjördur (Iceland).
Non-seeded teams: FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Sliema Wanderers (Malta), FC Pyunik (Armenia), Total Network Solutions (Wales), KF Tirana (Albania), Glentoran (Northern Ireland), Levadia Tallinn (Estonia), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), PFC Neftchi or FK Khazar Lenkoran (Azerbaijan), HB Tórshavn (Faroe Islands), Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan),
There is no-one anywhere in the world at any stage who is any bigger or any better than this football club.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.