FAI League of Ireland 2008 season

The 2008 FAI eircom League of Ireland season, consisting of both the FAI eircom League of Ireland Premier Division, the FAI eircom League of Ireland First Division and the newly introduced eircom League of Ireland A Championship. The season kicked off in March and the 'A' Championship commenced in June. In order to prepare for the 'A' Championship, competing clubs will be offered the opportunity to compete in a Shield competition, which will begin in March. [" [http://www.elevenaside.com/premier/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=30426 Four new clubs added to League roster ] ", "eleveanside.com", 20 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.]

This season is a transitional one in order to reduce the number of clubs in the Premier Division to ten and increase the amount in the First Division to twelve. As a result there is no playoffs with just the three bottom clubs in the Premier Division automatically relegated to the First Division with the First Division champions automatically promoted to the Premier Division.

There will be a playoff between the bottom placed side in the First Division and an 'A' Championship qualifier to determine who will participate in 2009 in the First Division.

Pre-season developments

Managerial changes

Several FAI League of Ireland clubs changed their managers during pre-season. Alan Mathews resigned as manager of recently relegated Longford Town. The First Division club have since promoted Mathew's assistant at the club, Aaron Callaghan, to replace him as manager of the club. [" [http://www.elevenaside.com/longfordtown/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=30400 Longford confirm Callaghan appointment ] ", "elevenaside.com", 18 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.] Pat Fenlon is also back in management after his brief reign in charge of Derry City in the early stage of last season. He is now manager of Bohemians after they sacked Sean Connor. [" [http://www.bohemians.ie/index.php/club-news/pat-unveiled.htm Pat Fenlon is Bohemians' manager ] ", "bohemians.ie", 22 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.] Back at Derry City they have re-appointed former manager Stephen Kenny after he left the eircom league club the season before last to take over the reins of then SPL side Dunfermline Athletic. Kenny was sacked by the Scottish club this season. [" [http://www.derrycityfc.net/season/07/news/displaystory.php?storyid=226 Stephen Kenny confirmed as City boss ] ", "derrycityfc.net", 28 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.] Another manager without a job is Damien Richardson after he and Cork City reached a settlement for him to leave the club. [" [http://www.elevenaside.com/corkcity/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=30439 Cork confirm Richardson settlement ] ", "elevenaside.com", 21 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.] The 2007 FAI Cup winners have since appointed Alan Mathews as their new manager. [" [http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2771 Cork City will introduce Alan Matthews as new manager on Wednesday ] ", "fai.ie", 15 January, 2008. Retrieved on 9 February 2008.]

Kilkenny City withdraw from League

Shortly before the league issued fixtures for the new season Kilkenny City issued a statement saying they were withdrawing from the League due to financial and inadequate support. [ [http://www.eircomloi.ie:82/news-centre/news/news-145/index.xml eircom League of ireland - news ] ] Sporting Fingal, who were due to take part in the inaugural A Championship were offered their place in the First Division. [ [http://www.eircomloi.ie:82/news-centre/news/news-146/index.xml eircom League of ireland - News ] ]

'A' League Championship

The 'A' League Championship is a new league introduced in order to provide a link between non-league soccer in the Republic of Ireland and the eircom League. It gives clubs the opportunity to win promotion to the league for the first time. It has been decided that this championship will not kick off until June but a Shield competition, starting in March, will be put in place in order to give the 'A' League Championship participants a chance to prepare. The league will contain reserve sides of the eircom League clubs also. Last December four new clubs were accepted for entry into the championship. These clubs are Mervue United and Salthill Devon both from Galway, Tullamore Town from Co. Offaly and newly formed Dublin club Sporting Fingal who have since been elevated to the First Division. [" [http://www.elevenaside.com/premier/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=30426 Four new clubs added to League roster ] ", "elevenaside.com", 20 December, 2007. Retrieved on 2 January 2008.]

Television coverage

For the first time in the history of the league the national broadcaster Radio Telefis Eireann started showing highlights of every Premier Division game played on its new show Monday Night Soccer. Radio coverage is provided by national broadcaster RTE with live reports and commentary on match nights. TG4 are the weekly broadcasters, with Sacar Beo. RTE and Setanta Sports occaisionally show matches.

Clubs information

'A' League Championship

FAI eircom National League Clubs in Europe 2008

UEFA Champions League

Drogheda United beat Estonian Meistriliiga champions FC Levadia Tallinn in the first qualifying round and went on to play three times Champions League/European Cup semi-finalists Dynamo Kyiv. Despite a 2-1 loss at home to the champions from Ukraine, Drogheda went on to draw 2-2 away from home and almost went on to win the game that would have sent them into the Third Qualifiying Round.

UEFA Cup

Cork City drew 2-2 with FC Haka of Finland in their first qualifying round tie but disappointingly lost the second leg 4-0 knocking them of the European competition.

St Patrick's Athletic were paired with Latvian side JFK Olimps Rīga and won both legs to seal a 3-0 victory on aggregate. Pats drew Elfsborg from Sweden in the second qualifying round and despite going 2-0 down in the 1st half of the away leg, they put in an excellent performance during the second half to score twice leaving it at 2-2. The second leg at home was tense with both teams creating chances. Elfsborg scored first in the second half leaving it in the Swedes' favour. Pats however weren't down an out and shortly equalised, before scoring the winner in extra time, sending the home crowd into euphoria. Pats drew Hertha Berlin in the 1st Round Proper and lost their first leg in Germany 2-0 despite putting in a strong performance. The RDS in Dublin hosted the return leg and Pats were unlucky not to win after striking the post twice as well as dominating the play during a 0-0 draw. The Saints bowed out of Europe having done themselves proud, winning three games and drawing another two, losing just once - in the olympiastadion.

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Bohemians progressed to the second round of this seasons Intertoto Cup after defeating Rhyl of Wales 9-3 on aggregate in the first round. They played FK Riga in the second round but were defeated on away goals. They lost the first leg 1-0 away in Latvia but could only tie up the aggregate score by winning 2-1 at Dalymount Park in the second leg. FK Riga's away goal put Bohemians out. Ironically, FK Riga lost their third qualifing round of the Intertoto Cup to Elfsborg from Sweden, the same side who St. Pats knocked out in the Uefa Cup.

2008 UEFA Coefficient

The FAI National League's UEFA coefficient accumulates to a total value of 7.332 as of the 2007/08 European season.

2008 national league UEFA ranking

Ranking going into 2008-09 European season:
* 33 flagicon|Lithuania Lithuania
* 34 flagicon|Moldova Moldova
* 35 flagicon|Ireland Republic of Ireland
* 36 flagicon|FYR Macedonia FYR Macedonia
* 37 flagicon|Iceland Iceland:* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2008.html "Full list"]

Off-field issues

ee also

* FAI Cup 2008
* eircom League of Ireland Cup 2008
* Setanta Sports Cup 2008

External links

* [http://www.eircomloi.ie/ Website of the eircom League]
* [http://www.fai.ie The Football Association of Ireland]
* [http://www.eleven-a-side.com/ Eleven-a-side.com]
* [http://www.extratime.ie ExtraTime.ie]
* [http://www.ifgrounds.com/home.html Irish Football Grounds]
* [http://www.foot.ie Foot.ie supporter forum]
* [http://fai.ie/pdf/FAI_Rule_Book.pdf FAI Rule Book]
* [http://www.irishtifo.tk Irish Tifo Forum]

References