Sligo Rovers

Sligo Rovers Football Club
	Sligo Rovers Football Club
Basic data
Surname	Sligo Rovers
founding	September 27, 1928
president	Dermot Kelly
Website	sligorovers.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Liam Buckley
Venue	The Showgrounds , Sligo
Places	5,500
league	Premier Division
2019	7th place
home	Away

The Sligo Rovers Football Club is an established in 1928 football club from the north-western Irish town of Sligo . The club has played in the League of Ireland since 1934 , with two interruptions in the 1940s and 1960s .

Both the team and The Showgrounds stadium are owned by residents of the city of Sligo, with the stadium being acquired by a foundation in 1968 to give the Rovers a safe home.

history

Early years (until 1940)

Already from 1908 to 1919 teams named Rovers existed in Sligo, but today's club was not formed until September 27, 1928 from the merger of Sligo Town with the Sligo Blues ; however, a selection of both teams completed their first game as Rovers on September 23 . In the early years, the Rovers played in the minor leagues, but after the championship in the League of County Leinster in 1933/34, the Rovers were included in the League of Ireland in 1934. The Rovers were able to finish third in the first season and two years later the Rovers were Irish champions for the first time with 10 points ahead of Dundalk FC . The season as champions was not very successful with a sixth place. But both in 1939 and 1940, the club was able to maintain itself among the top three and it succeeded each time in the final of the Irish Cup; However, both were lost, the first against Shelbourne FC only after a 1: 1 in the first final in a replay with 0: 1, the final in 1940 they lost 3 0: 3 against Shamrock Rovers .

In 1940, because of the beginning of the Second World War , the Rovers no longer wanted to take part in the League of Ireland and asked for a leave of absence for the duration of the war, which the other clubs in the league refused to do. When the Rovers still did not take part in the 1940/41 season, they were excluded.

1940s to 1960s

After the war, applications for re-entry into the league were rejected for both the 1946/47 and 1947/48 seasons, and it was not until 1948 that the Rovers were approved for the league together with the Transport Rovers . After the runner-up in 1951, the other 1950s were marked by financial and personal problems; often the Rovers did not have a real coach, and in 1960 the club could only be saved from financial failure by collecting donations door-to-door . In 1961 and 1962, the Rovers ended the season as the worst team twice in a row, when the league decided to reduce from ten to eight teams, the Rovers were the natural candidate. After the Rovers were excluded from the league for the second time since 1940, they also resigned from the Irish Football Association in protest. But as early as the next year the league decided to expand again to ten teams, so that the Rovers played in the top division again in 1963/64. The 1960s were again marked by financial problems.

1970s until today

In the 1970s, however, things quickly picked up in terms of sport; In 1970 they stood for the third time, again unsuccessfully, in the Irish Cup final. In 1976 and 1977 you lost the final of the League Cup. However, you could win the Irish championship in 1977. 1978 they lost in the first round of the European Cup, both home and return leg with 0: 3, also stood for the fourth time and for the fifth time in 1981 for the fifth time unsuccessfully in the final of the Irish Cup, a victory should only be with sixth attempt in 1983; in the semifinals against the Cobh Ramblers could be decided after two draws only in stoppage time of the second repetition and third game overall for the Rovers. The Bohemians could be defeated in the final in a rain fight; In the European Cup Winners' Cup , however, they lost both games in the first round against the Finnish representative Haka Valkeakoski , but that was only the beginning of one of the worst years in the club's history after two wins in the first six games, they won none of the last 23 games and lost all but three. The remaining 1980s were not much better, the Rovers mostly played in the newly formed First Division and in 1987 the triggering of the clubs was discussed due to renewed financial problems. Things only got better in the mid-1990s , with the second cup win and promotion to the Premier Division in 1994. The first round of the Cup Winners' Cup was mastered victoriously for the first time, with a goalless draw in the first leg, a 1-0 in the second leg against Floriana FC from Malta was enough ; the opponent of the second round, the Club Brugge proved to be too strong, the Rovers lost both games. In 1996, the Rovers were vice-league cup winners and qualified for the UI Cup , in this get two home draws in the group stage and two lost games away.

After a temporary relegation in the summer of 2000, the Rovers have been back in the Premier Division since 2006. In the 2010 season they decided, after winning the League Cup, also the cup final for themselves, in which Sligo prevailed 2-0 against reigning champions Shamrock Rovers. In the 2012 season , the club secured the third championship in club history after 35 years with a 3-2 win against direct rivals St Patrick's Athletic on the third matchday before the end of the season .

successes

Irish Champion (3)
- 1937 , 1977 , 2012

Irish Cup Winner (5)
- 1983, 1994, 2010, 2011, 2013

Irish League Cup Winner (2)
- 1998, 2010

Setanta Sports Cup (1)
- 2014

European Cup balance sheet

season	competition	round	opponent	total	To	Back
1977/78	European Champions Cup	1 round	Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic Red Star Belgrade	0: 6	0: 3 (A)	0: 3 (H)
1983/84	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1 round	Finland Haka Valkeakoski	0: 4	0: 1 (H)	0: 3 (A)
1994/95	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	qualification	Malta FC Floriana	3: 2	2: 2 (A)	1: 0 (H)
1994/95	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1 round	Belgium Club Bruges	2: 5	1: 2 (H)	1: 3 (A)
1996	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group stage	Netherlands SC Heerenveen	0-0	0: 0 (H)
			Norway Lillestrøm SK	0: 4	0: 4 (A)
			France FC Nantes	3: 3	3: 3 (H)
			Lithuania FBK Kaunas	0: 1	0: 1 (A)
2009/10	UEFA Europa League	1st qualifying round	Albania KS Vllaznia Shkodra	2: 3	1: 2 (H)	1: 1 (A)
2011/12	UEFA Europa League	3rd qualifying round	Ukraine Vorskla Poltava	0: 2	0: 0 (A)	0: 2 (H)
2012/13	UEFA Europa League	2nd qualifying round	Slovakia FC Spartak Trnava	2: 4	1: 3 (A)	1: 1 (H)
2013/14	UEFA Champions League	2nd qualifying round	Norway Molde FK	0: 3	0: 1 (H)	0: 2 (A)
2014/15	UEFA Europa League	1st qualifying round	Lithuania Banga Gargždai	4-0	0: 0 (A)	4: 0 (H)
2014/15	UEFA Europa League	2nd qualifying round	Norway Rosenborg Trondheim	2: 4	2: 1 (A)	1: 3 (H)