Stephen Bradley and Shamrock Rovers keep their focus on the field of play but money talks with €790,000 on the line in Iceland tie
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley. Photo: Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
Defeat for Shamrock Rovers in their next game in domestic competition would leave a bruise. Not only is it a Cup tie away to their bitter rivals Bohemians, a first-round exit would also close off their most likely route to a trophy, given that it would take a winning run of unprecedented proportions to get them back into contention for the league title.
But to lose to Vikingur over two legs in the Champions League, a campaign that begins in Reykjavik tonight, would have far more serious implications for the Hoops. In essence this is the €790,000 game as that’s the difference between the minimum earnings from UEFA this year (€960k) if they lose to Vikingur and the guaranteed income if they do come through the first round (€1.75m), no matter about group-stage qualification.
That’s a lot of money on the line on a plastic pitch on a Tuesday night in Iceland when most of the continent will be watching Euro 2024 events in Germany.
Today's Sports News in 90 Seconds - 9th July
Unlike two of their Dublin rivals in recent decades, Rovers have not come to assume that there will be an annual stream of chunky prize money from Europe to fund their operation: Bohemians and Shelbourne both did that, with catastrophic results, as it’s taken Shels 18 years to qualify for Europe again with this week’s return to the UEFA stage.
Rovers did bank prize money from domestic success and also from Europe last season but still recorded a deficit: the club’s accounts for 2023 show a loss of €2.3m, despite UEFA income of €810,000. That’s essentially the same money for winning eight league titles, but compared to the Euro revenue of €3.3m from 2022 and that year’s group-stage football, when the club had a profit of €1.5m, it leaves a hole in the finances.
By this summer’s end, Rovers could be sitting on a chunky seven-figure influx of cash from UEFA or could have the bare minimum of €960k, so there’s a lot riding on the Vikingur tie. Manager Stephen Bradley knows the importance of the UEFA money but also knows from past experiences of rivals clubs that it can’t be the focus. “It can’t be,” he said from the team’s Reykjavik base on the eve of the game.
“Do I understand the finances? Everyone in Irish football does, every smaller nation in Europe would look to Europe as an area when you can earn really good money for the club, we know it’s important, there’s no getting away from that.
“But as the manager, as a team, that’s not your focus or your thought process, it’s about the opposition, what we are facing, how we are going to stop them and hurt them, that’s as simple as it is; if you start thinking of everything outside, you will lose focus on what’s important.”
Those Hoops fans of a positive mindset can look at a new landscape of the European club game and see a very attractive pot of gold: it’s technically possible for Bradley’s side to come through the very testing champions path and reach the group stages of the Champions League, if they can (somehow) win through four rounds: but, get as far as the play-off round, the last hurdle before the group stages, and there’s still a very tasty parachute payment of €4.2m for an exit.
Other routes are more realistic. If Rovers beat Vikingur over two legs in the Champions League, then the door really does open, no matter what happens next. Even if they beat Vikingur and lose to Sparta Prague in the Champions League second qualifying round, they would drop into the Europa League third qualifying round, where the Europa League group stages would be in sight.
And there’s another back door there: lose in the Europa League third round and Rovers drop into the play-off round for the Europa Conference League, those group stages achievable.
Still with us? That’s all based on Rovers beating Vikingur. Lose and the Dublin club are guaranteed at least two more games: the defeated side in the Rovers-Vikingur tie play the losers of the tense Bosnia v Albania battle between FK Borac Banja Luka and KF Egnatia.
That tie has its own problems as due to Balkan tensions and the security issues we’ve had sight of at Euro 2024, away fans from Albania are banned for the tie in that Serbian-dominated part of Bosnia.
If Rovers lose that Europa Conference League tie, then Europe truly is over for another year, but they’ll still have banked at least €960k as UEFA have upped prize money for earlier rounds with compensation of €260,000 for any national champion who fails to make the group stages of any competition and a booster payment of €175,000 per round, a contribution to the travel costs that can eat up prize money.
But for 90 minutes in Reykjavik, Bradley and his players will park thoughts of euro signs and focus on the mighty task of getting through.
