As League of Ireland clubs prepare for their entry into European Competition for 2013/2014 I thought I’d go through some European statistics and trivia. So far LOI clubs have played 475 European games, including 228 knock out ties.

Here’s the European record for the 22 clubs who have represented the League of Ireland in European competition;

I have them sort by European entries, then games played, then ties won..

You can see that Bohemians have entered European competition the most with 26 entries. Irish teams have competed for 55 years so no club has been in Europe more than half the time.

Shamrock Rovers have played equal most games. Their superb run to the Europa League group stages in 2011/12 accounts for 12 of these games.

St Patrick’s Athletic have the most knock out ties won with 9. 8 of these have come in their last 4 entries into Europe.

Drogheda United are the only club without a losing record. They have won 5 and lost 5 of their 14 games so far.

The above shows that Irish clubs have won 53 knock out ties. On 10 occasions Irish clubs have won through 2 rounds in Europe. They’re broken down as (4 – St Patrick’s Athletic, 2, – Cork City, 1 – Derry City, Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne). Shamrock Rovers is unique as they won in the Champions League, then lost in the Champions League, then won in the Europa League. Dundalk and Shelbourne had their wins in the European Cup/Champions League, Cork City have one ‘double’ in the Inter-toto Cup. All other doubles in the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

The record aggregate win by an Irish club in Europe is Shamrock Rovers 7-0 win over Fram (Iceland) in 1982/83. The record loss is 1-16 by Finn Harps against Derby County in 1976/77.

If you’re a Euro snob and you refuse to acknowledge the Inter-toto cup. Here’s the records with those games excluded;

As ever, any questions ask away

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