Eur welcome

Cliftonville will make their debut in a sixth European competition next season – and we’ve got every angle covered for the Europa Conference League’s first qualifying round draw.

The Reds’ opponents will be determined on Tuesday, June 14 ahead of first and second leg ties being played on July 7 and 14, respectively, and you can keep track of all potential opponents thanks to the return of our dedicated European Guide here on cliftonvillefc.net.

The web’s most comprehensive look at all the permutations in play, be sure to maintain a daily check of the page as various Leagues and Cups across the continent draw to a conclusion over the course of the next month.

Indeed, the majority of the first qualifying round’s entrants have yet to be determined and a number of Clubs – Cliftonville included – have yet to be formally assigned a seeded status for the draw, meaning every kick of a ball in Europe over the next few weeks will have an impact one way or the other.

When the opening games eventually come around at the start of July, the Reds’ involvement will take to six the number of European tournaments that Ireland’s oldest Football Club has participated in.

As will be documented with the imminent return of our retrospective Eu Reds series throughout the summer, Cliftonville’s continental journey began way back in 1979 when our Irish Cup winning heroes marked the occasion of the Club’s 100th anniversary by hosting French outfit Nantes in the Cup Winners’ Cup (below).

A further 17 years would pass until the Reds next arrived at UEFA’s door, with the Intertoto Cup campaign of 1996 providing four separate opponents in Grouop 1; Standard Liege and Stuttgart visiting Solitude, with Marty Quinn’s men travelling to tackle both Hapoel Haifa and Aalborg.

Cliftonville’s Champions League bow came two years later when FC Kosice of Slovakia plundered a mere 13 goals over the course of two legs a full decade ahead of the Reds’ next European competition debut; an 11-0 UEFA Cup reverse at the hands of Danish giants Copenhagen.

Victory over HNK Cibalia of Croatia (above) in 2010 saw the Club mark a stylish arrival in the Europa League, with a further 12 years passing until Cliftonville would begin preparations for their maiden entry to UEFA’s newest tournament – which you can keep full track of here.

Cliftonville’s European entries
Cup Winners’ Cup: 1979
Intertoto Cup: 1996, 2002, 2007
Champions League: 1998, 2013, 2014
UEFA Cup: 2008
Europa League: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2019
Europa Conference League: 2022

Continental records
Biggest win: Cliftonville 4-0 Barry Town United (Europa League; July 4, 2019)
Biggest defeat: FC Kosice 8-0 Cliftonville (Champions League; July 29, 1998)
Highest-scoring draw: Hapoel Haifa 1-1 Cliftonville (Intertoto Cup; June 29, 1996)
First goalscorer: Shaun Strang (v Hapoel Haifa; Intertoto Cup; June 29, 1996)
First match win: Dinaburg 0-1 Cliftonville (Intertoto Cup; July 1, 2007)
First aggregate win: Cliftonville 2-1 Dinaburg (Intertoto Cup first round, 2007)

European History
Champions League: P6 W0 D1 L5 F1 A20
Europa League: P18 W4 D4 L10 F15 A26
UEFA Cup: P2 W0 D0 L2 F0 A11
Cup Winners’ Cup: P2 W0 D0 L2 F0 A8
Intertoto Cup: P10 W1 D2 L7 F5 A23

Total: P38 W5 D7 L26 F21 A88