Champions League: Cork City – who is Legia Warsaw's rival in LM qualifications?

Regarding history and achievements, Cork City is far inferior to legionaries. The club was founded just 34 years ago and has won the national championship three times. The title of last year was his first after 12 years. Earlier, three times in a row, he finished second in the Irish league.

Cork City has never experienced significant success in the European competition, although it began in 1989. The winning results in the history of the club include Bayern's 1: 1 draw Munich in the first round of the UEFA Cup in the summer of 1990 (on the other hand, Germany won 2-0 and went further), winning 1: 0 with IFK Gothenburg in the same competition. 1999 (in a rematch against Sweden won 3: 0).

The best period of the club, considering playing in Europe, falls on the years 2004-2007. Cork City played well in the defunct Intertoto Cup: in 2004, he moved to Malmoe FF (3: 1 and 1: 0), then eliminated NEC Nijmegen (1: 0 and 0: 0) and left the third round from Nantes. In the next season, he managed to get through the UEFA Cup qualifiers, in the first round of elimination, throwing the Lithuanian Ekranas, and in the second round el. after two Swedish matches Djurgårdens IF. Sparta Prague was better in the right part of the cup.

During the 2006/07 season, Cork City managed to pass only one lap in the qualifying round of the Champions League. After winning 1: 0 and 1: 1, the Irish were better than the Cypriot Apollon Limassol before giving up with Crvena Zvezda (0: 4 overall.)

Over the last two seasons, the players Cork City participated in the qualifications of the European League. In the summer of 2016, they first treated Linfield (2: 1 overall) in the first round of the qualifying round, in the second round – BK Häcken (2: 1) and only in the third round Genk l & Defeated (1: 3). In 2017, the Cork team eliminated Levadia Tallinn (6: 2) in the first round and dropped out with another rival, AEK Larnaka. Never in European competitions Cork City missed the Polish team, Legia will be his first rival of our country.

Cork City plays its games every day at the Turners Cross stadium, which looks like the typical British stadiums of the lower leagues and can hold less than 7500 viewers. The composition of the team is based largely on Irish players. Recently, the team was strengthened by a footballer, who can be associated by the supporters of the Premier League – that's the 36-year-old defender Damien Delaney, who has long been associated with Crystal Palace. He has 9 games in Ireland, nearly 300 at the championship level and exactly 138 in the Premier League. About a million pounds, Delaney finished in the club for free and is the most expensive football player in the Irish league! Beyond that, it is difficult to nominate players whose names say something more to football fans.

In the past, little known footballers played for Cork City. Liam Miller, who recently died at the age of 36 because of Manchester United's juvenile cancer, played in 31 games in the Irish club in 2015.

The top-selling player in Cork City is Brian Lenihan, left for Hull City in the summer of 2014 for just over £ 250,000.

The club's top scorer in the history of the club is Graham Cummins, who returns to Cork after a less affluent adventure. English Leagues and Scotland. The 30-year-old scored 55 goals in 86 games in Cork City. It is also worth paying attention to the left wing Kieran Sadler, who played in the youth representation of Ireland, is a student of West Ham and was one of the best players from the previous season. The 23-year-old scored 12 goals in the Cork City championship season.

The history of the club coach is interesting. He was born in New York, 53 years old, John Caulfield, who has held this position since November 2013. Previously, he played for Cork City from 1986 to 2003, while practicing … Gaelic football, a traditional Irish sport that is a modification of rugby.