Conference League 25-26

[Panda]

Forget the Europa. She never loved us anyway.

Draw imorn. We play one team from each pot. 

Toughest draw: Fiorentina, Crystal Palace, Mainz, AEK Athens, Samsunspor, Hacken.

Panda's draw: AZ Alkmaar, Shamrock Rovers, Bialystock, Lincoln Red Imps, Breidablik, Shelbourne (apparently the rules say we can play both Irish sides).

 

[Reekie_Red]

Tastiest draw (purely by name alone): Hamrun

[DantheDon]

Not too many names to fear. I reckon aside from teams at the top of pot 1 we give any of these sides a game. 

[RicoS321]

Turgid league pish. Couldn't give a fuck. Hibs' run in Europe is exactly how it should be. Proper excitement and actual jeopardy. None of this "we'll get the plate tournament if we lose" shite. Like being in Primary school, where everyone gets to win. 

[wee toon red]

14 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Turgid league pish. Couldn't give a fuck. Hibs' run in Europe is exactly how it should be. Proper excitement and actual jeopardy. None of this "we'll get the plate tournament if we lose" shite. Like being in Primary school, where everyone gets to win. 

Hibs started in the Europa League and dropped to the Conference qualifiers. It's the way of the world and doesn't make European football any less shite than it's already been for years.

[RicoS321]

3 minutes ago, wee toon red said:

Hibs started in the Europa League and dropped to the Conference qualifiers. It's the way of the world and doesn't make European football any less shite than it's already been for years.

Aye, I forgot Hibs were on their second chance knockout. I actually do think that there's a trajectory of shiteness, and it's heading upward. There is a predefined goal, too, that us mortals are not party to. European leagues of some sort. It's all just nudging forward, little bit at a time. 

[wokinginashearerwonderland]

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

I actually do think that there's a trajectory of shiteness, and it's heading upward. 

Shitey competition, shitey teams.........our shitey foreign players.........

Sorry but hard to get excited about our Scandinavian select having a tie against Zrinjski Mostar or Noah.  It's got the feel of the Intertoto Cup, the tournament no one really wants to be in.

[Jute]

Accepting the comments on shite format and the second/third chance it’s still a European competition and potential for some decent ties. We are not big enough to be looking down our noses at any team we face in Europe. Just because a team is from Bosnia or Armenia and maybe in Europe for first time does not mean it won’t be a tough test. 

[Slim]

7 minutes ago, Jute said:

Just because a team is from Bosnia or Armenia and maybe in Europe for first time does not mean it won’t be a tough test. 

Indeed, FC Noah of Armenia knocked out AEK Athens on their way to the Group Stage last year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Noah#European

And Shkendija who we scraped through against on away goals back in 2015 knocked out FCSB from this year's Champions League qualifiers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KF_Shkëndija#Results

Plenty of beatable teams there, but also plenty of teams that can punish us if we're sloppy.

Edited August 29 by Slim

[Slim]

So much for being easier in the Conference League!

"Aberdeen are at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, Strasbourg and Noah - and visit Sparta Prague, AEK Athens and AEK Larnaca."

AEK Larnaca beat Legia Warsaw 4-1 at home...

Edited August 29 by Slim

[wee toon red]

That's a tough draw. It's better than FCSB's in the Europa League but going to be very tough to qualify.

[Kowalski]

Just imagine the redemption ark when we beat Noah. 

[wee toon red]

Big Willem's coming out of retirement for that one.

[Slim]

AEK Larnaca's stadium only holds 8,000. Might be tricky getting tickets for that one.

[Jute]

32 minutes ago, Slim said:

AEK Larnaca's stadium only holds 8,000. Might be tricky getting tickets for that one.

Away end at Sparta Prague only holds 988 so that will be a ticket scramble as well.

[OxfordDon]

2 hours ago, Kowalski said:

Just imagine the redemption ark when we beat Noah. 

Pity we never got them during the McInnes years, I'dve paid good money to see the headline "Flood sinks Noah"

[Panda]

Need eight points to reach the knockout stage (although a few on seven last season made it. One team on seven points didn't make it last year - some mob called Hearts). 

Ten points likely enough to be seeded, while 12 and more could be enough to skip the play-off and go directly into the last 16.

It's a tough group of fixtures, but it's very doable, especially if we make Pittodrie hard to visit 

[JessianK]

So whats the pay outs for the group phases, sorry been outside doing some gardening work and chasing up my PGDE course overpayment crap today... just in for the rest of the night. (more likely crash at some point).. 

The Conference League champion earns €7 million for winning the final. In addition, clubs accumulate revenue throughout the tournament:

 

• €3.17 million for participating in the group stage
• €400,000 per win and €133,000 per draw
• Bonus payments per knockout round:
  • €800,000 (Round of 16)
  • €1.3 million (Quarterfinals)
  • €2.5 million (Semifinals)

 

A team that performs flawlessly could earn over €15 million in total. The runner-up receives a fixed prize of €4 million.

 

IF only we could achieve this, win every game. Surely investing in some quality players between today and Monday could generate 15million... Over to Dave, 

[BigAl]

On holiday in the Greek Islands half cut and flights for Prague and Athens games already booked.

Life is good lads 

[dons8321]

On 29/08/2025 at 14:59, OxfordDon said:

Pity we never got them during the McInnes years, I'dve paid good money to see the headline "Flood sinks Noah"

Few years back when I was involved withrunning a north London amateur Club - Alexandra Park - we had a young player join us and went straight into our 2nd XI, whose name was Noah Reich...I was really hoping he'd get a hat-trick so I could put a headline our Newsletter..."memory of the 3rd Reich goal will last a 1000 years"  - didn't happen sadly and he only played 1 season for us before departing to bigger things.  

[Panda]

 

Prediction already in that we'll finish bottom.

Time to shock Europe again.

[Jute]

Ticket arrangements for home games out.

Prices are better than I was expecting. 

[RicoS321]

Trying to actively dissuade u18s to go to the red shed by charging £15 per game, or £54 for three. 

Edit: prices aren't that reasonable, and the shite state of having to pay in advance to get your seat - and only getting until Friday to do so - is rancid pish.

Edited September 1 by RicoS321

[Panda]

13 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Trying to actively dissuade u18s to go to the red shed by charging £15 per game, or £54 for three. 

Edit: prices aren't that reasonable, and the shite state of having to pay in advance to get your seat - and only getting until Friday to do so - is rancid pish.

Aye £30 is not reasonable. Our opponents will charge much less in all probability.

We don't even need the money because we're getting a huge wad from Uefa too.

It's greed, nothing less.

[Panda]

18 minutes ago, Panda said:

Aye £30 is not reasonable. Our opponents will charge much less in all probability.

We don't even need the money because we're getting a huge wad from Uefa too.

It's greed, nothing less.

And while we're at it, £25 for the Motherwell cup game is also a nonsense