Athlone Town are in Champions League Round 2 qualifying action against Icelandic side Breidablik on Wednesday afternoon. Get the lowdown on the fixture.
WHEN
Wednesday 27 August, 12pm
WHERE
Sportpark Schreurserve, Enschede, The Netherlands
HOW TO WATCH
The match is available to stream online on LOITV
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
HOW DID THEY REACH THIS STAGE
Premier Division champions Athlone begin the second of possibly three qualifying rounds of Champions League qualifying.
The midlanders won their first round semi-final and final in style, defeating Cardiff City (4-0) and Agram of Croatia (3-0).
Both matches were sellouts in Lissywollen but now Athlone must go on the road.
This is another scenario where two matches must be won to come through the round, beginning with this semi-final with Breidablik.
THE WINNER MEETS.....
The winner will advance to Saturday's final where they will come up against either FC Twente or FK Crvena Zvezda for a place in the third qualifying round. Twente are hosting all matches.
It's an extremely difficult task to reach the third round. A two-legged tie in September would await the team which progresses.
An Irish side has yet to reach the league phase of the reformatted Champions League. Nine teams automatically qualify for the competition, as well as nine qualifiers. It will take something very special for Athlone to make it.
HOW GOOD ARE BREIDABLIK?
They have won the Icelandic league 19 times and are top of the table with 13 wins and a draw from 15 games so this season.
However, they did not make it out of the first qualifying round in 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 and begin this campaign in the second round.
However, Breidablik have previously competed in the old outright competition.
TOWN COME IN ON A HIGH
Athlone claimed a massive victory in the Premier Division last Saturday, winning 2-1 against Shelbourne last Saturday.
Retaining the title is their main target and that win put them back on top ahead of the Reds.
Star attacker Roisin Molloy said it was a big lift for them: "As a team and a squad we've been really focusing on the league, but there’s definitely been a lot of work gone on behind the scenes to get everything organised, to put us in the best possible place to be as competitive as we can in the games.
"We're always trying to be as professional as we can anyway in terms of our recovery, but the club has organised group recovery sessions to get everyone ready. It’s been a quick turnaround (from Saturday’s game against Shelbourne) but we’re focused on getting the best recovery and putting ourselves in the best position for (the game against Breidablik)."
CAN THEY DO IT?
In short, yes, but perhaps they are underdogs. Breidablik bring considerable experience against an Athlone Town team still developing.
Molloy said Athlone are keen to test themselves having shown they are a level above the first round at least with their seven goals against Cardiff and Agram.
She explained: "We're so excited just to get going. Obviously the quality of the teams at this stage is going to be really, really high.
"We don’t know a whole lot about the teams so far, I’m sure there’s been a lot of work going on in the background about that. We have great belief in our squad.
"I think we have a lot of quality. We’re going out there to put our best foot forward. We really want to put in good performances."
ALL WILL NOT BE LOST
If Athlone fail to make it, they will contest a third place play-off fixture on Saturday instead of the final.
That will be crucial as the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, the new second tier competition, will have its first edition this campaign.
Town could drop into those qualifiers. Eleven third-place finishers in the Champions League second qualifying round mini-tournaments will enter into first round qualifiers for the Europa Cup, so one victory this week will see Athlone's European season extended later into the year.
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