Directly across the road from Sparta Prague’s Letná Stadium is a large, white marquee hosting Cirque de Soleil.
For Shamrock Rovers, they have already negotiated the tightrope of qualification to reach the league phase of the Uefa Conference League.
This is not bonus territory, though. Rather, it is a stage they have proven themselves to be more than comfortable competing on.
“We look to strive to progress this league, and you do it on this stage, really, because this is where people really take notice of you, and say, ‘these Irish teams are no mugs anymore’,” captain Roberto Lopes said at the pre-match press conference last night.
Stephen Bradley, the Rovers head coach, sat alongside him and made it clear that Rovers were aiming to go one better than last season in this competition by betting beyond the knockout stage play-off.
He revealed that the message and the target set out from day one of pre-season was to make this season continue beyond Christmas and merge into the start of the 2026 League of Ireland season.
That is the prism from which Bradley and Rovers view this challenge. It just so happens to come at a time that feels like yet another crossroads for Irish football – although that’s been said so often over the years and only now does it feel like clubs are beginning to emerge from no man’s land.
The senior men’s international team is an altogether different story, perhaps even a secondary one this week given manager Heimir Hallgrímsson names his squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers with Portugal and Armenia (sorrowful gulp) in somewhat muted fashion in the hours before Rovers and Shelbourne begin their Conference League campaigns tonight.
In reaching their third league phase campaign in four years, Bradley’s side have contributed to history in more ways than one.
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Not only are they the first League of Ireland club to qualify for European group/league football in back-to-back seasons, but they achieved the feat without the safety net of the champions’ path, breaking new ground in doing so.
Just to add gloss to the year from an Irish football perspective, Shels have joined them in this competition to bring an even greater sense of anticipation to this time of year.
Yet maybe it was apt that there circus was across the road here in Prague, because part of the questioning to Bradley on the eve of this game centred around one that continues at home with the FAI.
He wasn’t asked directly about their appearance in front of the Joint Oireachtas committee for sport late last month, or the news that emerged yesterday that members of the FAI General Assembly were informed that a scheduled EGM for 4 October was postponed because the FAI had not informed Sport Ireland about plans to discuss revised term limits for board members.
It was that the Oireachtas committee, which Sport Ireland CEO Una May attended and answered questions, in which she admitted she had not been made aware of any suggestion from the FAI that they wanted to take a vote on increasing minimum terms for board members from two to three years, and a maximum of combined service up to nine years with the vice president and president granted 12 years in total.
This is all at a time when League of Ireland clubs are awaiting news from the upcoming Budget about crucial academy funding of €8 million for the next two years, and in that context held relevance as Rovers and Shels find themselves about to represent the game in this country.
“I don’t think the clubs, to be fair, can do much more domestically,” Bradley said.
“We know we need help, we know we need funding, I think everybody knows that. We all hope it comes in this Budget. If it doesn’t, what we can’t do is we can’t lose faith, and trust in what we’re doing. What we’re doing is really, really good. It’s been the shining light of Irish football for quite some time now.
“We need to keep building that trust with the people in power and the people who make decisions. We all have a responsibility in that. Hopefully it happens in this Budget. If not, we regroup and we go again, and we keep striving to make Irish football better. Eventually it will come, we’re hoping it’s now, but just keep doing our bit, keep making it better.”
Rovers are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions. And while Bradley speaks about the balance of the team, the attitude and the trust in his players, he will also be mindful that the last defeat on 7 August was away to Ballkani in the first leg of second-round qualifying. He described it at the time as a performance that was “levels below” what they’ve produced in Europe.
The Letná Stadium in Prague. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
They turned it around on home soil but here, with close to 18,000 fans expected and 920 of them away supporters, the margin for error is minimal.
“We have big respect for them and know they are able to play big games in Europe also,” Sparta boss Brian Priske said.
“It’s a good team, it’s a good coach who has been there for quite some time and developed a team that is not just champions in Ireland but also have them winning in Europe and they had a nice campaign last year.”
Rovers were comprehensively beaten 6-2 on aggregate by the same opponents in Champions League qualifying last season, although Sparta have turned back to Priske to take charge.
The Czech giants reached the league phase of Europe’s premier club competition in 2024/25 after easing past Bradley’s men and finished 31st out of 36 teams – picking up four points with a home win over Red Bull Salzburg and a draw away to Stuttgart before losing their six subsequent fixtures against the likes of Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
Another of those defeats was a tight 1-0 loss against eventual finalists Inter Milan here in Prague.
Rovers are looking to become the first side to come away from the Letná Stadium with any kind of positive result this season.
Sparta are top of their domestic league and have won all five home games, while during three rounds of European qualifying they swept aside teams from Kazakhstan, Armenia and Lativa on a combined aggregate score of 11-1.
“The most important thing is that they’re together and one of the biggest strengths this year has been togetherness,” Bradley said.
“We’re happy, but we want more, as a football club and as a team, we want to keep pushing, and if we’re sitting in this position in two years’ time, in three years’ time, and we’re still happy being in the Conference League, well then, we’re not doing something right.
“Our next aim has to be to go and qualify for the Europa League at some point, that has to be our next aim.”
Bradley, after all, is the man who has helped get this Rovers show on the road around Europe.
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Circus comes to town in Prague as Shamrock Rovers aim to help Irish football escape one at home
THE CIRCUS IS in town.
Directly across the road from Sparta Prague’s Letná Stadium is a large, white marquee hosting Cirque de Soleil.
For Shamrock Rovers, they have already negotiated the tightrope of qualification to reach the league phase of the Uefa Conference League.
This is not bonus territory, though. Rather, it is a stage they have proven themselves to be more than comfortable competing on.
“We look to strive to progress this league, and you do it on this stage, really, because this is where people really take notice of you, and say, ‘these Irish teams are no mugs anymore’,” captain Roberto Lopes said at the pre-match press conference last night.
Stephen Bradley, the Rovers head coach, sat alongside him and made it clear that Rovers were aiming to go one better than last season in this competition by betting beyond the knockout stage play-off.
He revealed that the message and the target set out from day one of pre-season was to make this season continue beyond Christmas and merge into the start of the 2026 League of Ireland season.
That is the prism from which Bradley and Rovers view this challenge. It just so happens to come at a time that feels like yet another crossroads for Irish football – although that’s been said so often over the years and only now does it feel like clubs are beginning to emerge from no man’s land.
The senior men’s international team is an altogether different story, perhaps even a secondary one this week given manager Heimir Hallgrímsson names his squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers with Portugal and Armenia (sorrowful gulp) in somewhat muted fashion in the hours before Rovers and Shelbourne begin their Conference League campaigns tonight.
In reaching their third league phase campaign in four years, Bradley’s side have contributed to history in more ways than one.
Not only are they the first League of Ireland club to qualify for European group/league football in back-to-back seasons, but they achieved the feat without the safety net of the champions’ path, breaking new ground in doing so.
Just to add gloss to the year from an Irish football perspective, Shels have joined them in this competition to bring an even greater sense of anticipation to this time of year.
Yet maybe it was apt that there circus was across the road here in Prague, because part of the questioning to Bradley on the eve of this game centred around one that continues at home with the FAI.
He wasn’t asked directly about their appearance in front of the Joint Oireachtas committee for sport late last month, or the news that emerged yesterday that members of the FAI General Assembly were informed that a scheduled EGM for 4 October was postponed because the FAI had not informed Sport Ireland about plans to discuss revised term limits for board members.
It was that the Oireachtas committee, which Sport Ireland CEO Una May attended and answered questions, in which she admitted she had not been made aware of any suggestion from the FAI that they wanted to take a vote on increasing minimum terms for board members from two to three years, and a maximum of combined service up to nine years with the vice president and president granted 12 years in total.
This is all at a time when League of Ireland clubs are awaiting news from the upcoming Budget about crucial academy funding of €8 million for the next two years, and in that context held relevance as Rovers and Shels find themselves about to represent the game in this country.
“I don’t think the clubs, to be fair, can do much more domestically,” Bradley said.
“We know we need help, we know we need funding, I think everybody knows that. We all hope it comes in this Budget. If it doesn’t, what we can’t do is we can’t lose faith, and trust in what we’re doing. What we’re doing is really, really good. It’s been the shining light of Irish football for quite some time now.
“We need to keep building that trust with the people in power and the people who make decisions. We all have a responsibility in that. Hopefully it happens in this Budget. If not, we regroup and we go again, and we keep striving to make Irish football better. Eventually it will come, we’re hoping it’s now, but just keep doing our bit, keep making it better.”
Rovers are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions. And while Bradley speaks about the balance of the team, the attitude and the trust in his players, he will also be mindful that the last defeat on 7 August was away to Ballkani in the first leg of second-round qualifying. He described it at the time as a performance that was “levels below” what they’ve produced in Europe.
They turned it around on home soil but here, with close to 18,000 fans expected and 920 of them away supporters, the margin for error is minimal.
“We have big respect for them and know they are able to play big games in Europe also,” Sparta boss Brian Priske said.
“It’s a good team, it’s a good coach who has been there for quite some time and developed a team that is not just champions in Ireland but also have them winning in Europe and they had a nice campaign last year.”
Rovers were comprehensively beaten 6-2 on aggregate by the same opponents in Champions League qualifying last season, although Sparta have turned back to Priske to take charge.
The Czech giants reached the league phase of Europe’s premier club competition in 2024/25 after easing past Bradley’s men and finished 31st out of 36 teams – picking up four points with a home win over Red Bull Salzburg and a draw away to Stuttgart before losing their six subsequent fixtures against the likes of Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
Another of those defeats was a tight 1-0 loss against eventual finalists Inter Milan here in Prague.
Rovers are looking to become the first side to come away from the Letná Stadium with any kind of positive result this season.
Sparta are top of their domestic league and have won all five home games, while during three rounds of European qualifying they swept aside teams from Kazakhstan, Armenia and Lativa on a combined aggregate score of 11-1.
“The most important thing is that they’re together and one of the biggest strengths this year has been togetherness,” Bradley said.
“We’re happy, but we want more, as a football club and as a team, we want to keep pushing, and if we’re sitting in this position in two years’ time, in three years’ time, and we’re still happy being in the Conference League, well then, we’re not doing something right.
“Our next aim has to be to go and qualify for the Europa League at some point, that has to be our next aim.”
Bradley, after all, is the man who has helped get this Rovers show on the road around Europe.
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