The FAI Futsal Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for futsal teams based in the Republic of Ireland . The winners qualify to represent the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Futsal Cup . The competition was introduced in 2007 and the inaugural winners were Shamrock Rovers . The 2007 tournament was referred to as the Eircom U21 Futsal League and the 2008 and 2009 tournaments were referred to as the Futsal League of Ireland or the FAI National Futsal League . Since 2010 it has generally been referred to as the Ireland Futsal Union Cup.
24-784: The FAI Futsal Cup was originally awarded to the winners of the Eircom U21 Futsal League , a tournament featuring futsal teams attached to clubs playing in the League of Ireland U21 Division . The competition was officially launched at Dublin City University on 13 February 2007 with a reception attended by, among others, Packie Bonner . Eights clubs from the U21 Division, including Bohemians , Bray Wanderers , Drogheda United , Dundalk , Monaghan United , Shamrock Rovers , St Patrick's Athletic and UCD entered
48-675: A knockout phase. Unlike the UEFA Champions League , the knockout phase had single-leg ties, with the semi-finals and final played at neutral venues. British media commented that the competition was formed to displace the NextGen Series . In April 2014, Barcelona became the first champion, beating Benfica by 3–0 in the final-four held in Nyon . After a two-year trial period, the UEFA Youth League became
72-414: A permanent UEFA competition starting from the 2015–16 season , with the tournament expanded from 32 to 64 teams to allow the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their UEFA country coefficients to also participate. The 32 UEFA Champions League group stage youth teams retain the group stage format, with the group winners advancing to the round of 16 and the runners-up advancing to
96-605: A team in either the Premier Division or the First Division . Source : UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League league phase, plus the domestic youth champions of
120-634: A team in the senior divisions. In addition to competing for the Dr Tony O'Neill Cup and the Enda McGuill Cup, teams in the U21 division also played in several other competitions including pre-season tournaments in 2006 and 2007 and a futsal league in 2007 which was won by Shamrock Rovers . This latter competition evolved into the FAI Futsal Cup . In 2008, as part of a restructuring of
144-594: Is named after Dr Tony O'Neill, the former general manager of University College Dublin A.F.C. O'Neill was a founding member of the Irish Universities Football Union , a former general secretary of the FAI and a member of various UEFA committees. He also served as Director of Sport at UCD and was credited with revitalising sport at the university following the introduction of a scholarship scheme. This competition should not be confused with
168-578: The Emerald Futsal League in addition to futsal teams associated with League of Ireland clubs. Junior clubs and representative teams of junior leagues were also invited to participate, resulting in a record entry of 32 teams. The 2010 format saw four preliminary qualifying tournaments – one per province – been staged throughout the country. The 2015 tournament featured eleven clubs. Playing under various names including, Sporting Fingal EID, EID Futsal and Eden College, Eden Futsal Club won
192-493: The League of Ireland that also saw the introduction of the A Championship , the U21 division was relaunched as a U20 division. The new division featured the youth teams of the 22 clubs in the Premier Division and First Division plus four other teams – F.C. Carlow , Kilkenny City , Salthill Devon and Mervue United . Cork City were the first U20 champions in 2008–09 followed by UCD in 2009. In 2010 Andrew Myler guided Shamrock Rovers to their first title. During
216-728: The Premier Division and First Division , the U19 Division is currently sponsored by Airtricity and as a result it is also known as the SSE Airtricity U19 League . The earlier U21 and U20 divisions were sponsored by Eircom and as a result were referred to as the Eircom U21 League or the Eircom U20 League . The division is also sometimes referred to as the Dr Tony O'Neill League because
240-584: The University of Limerick and Dublin University . The division was also used by the League of Ireland as an avenue for future members of its senior divisions. Both Salthill Devon and Mervue United began their League of Ireland careers in the U21 division. In 2003 Mervue United were Enda McGuill Cup finalists and in 2006 Salthill Devon became the first club to win the Dr Tony O'Neill Cup without having
264-419: The 2008 tournament. Other players to feature included Gary McCabe and Jay O'Shea , both of whom played for Bray Wanderers. As the number of entrants increased the format of the tournament changed. Fourteen clubs entered the 2009 competition and clubs initially played in three divisions – a Leinster Division, a Munster Division and a North-West Division. In 2010 the tournament was expanded to include clubs from
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#1732786866910288-503: The FAI Futsal Cup five times in a row between 2010 and 2014. After finishing as runners up in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Blue Magic won the FAI Futsal Cup for the first time in 2015 and then retained the cup in 2016. Source : League of Ireland U21 Division The League of Ireland U19 Division is the under-19 division of the League of Ireland . The current division is the successor of earlier U21 and U20 divisions. Like
312-652: The U19 era Cork City have established themselves as the dominant team, winning the Dr Tony O'Neill Cup four seasons out of five and winning the Enda McGuill Cup on three occasions. In 2016 Cork City also became the first team to represent the division in the UEFA Youth League . During the U21 and U20 eras teams playing in the division were divided into four regionalised groups, more or less corresponding to North and South Leinster , Munster and Connacht /Ulster. The top two teams from each group then qualified for
336-672: The U21 era. As well as featuring the youth teams of contemporary League of Ireland clubs, the division also featured the representative teams of junior leagues such as the Kerry District League , the Mayo Association Football League and the Sligo/Leitrim League. In 2004 Sligo/Leitrim reached the final of the Enda McGuill Cup. In addition to featuring UCD, the division also featured three other university teams – NUI Galway ,
360-770: The best-ranked national associations. The semi-finals and final matches have been traditionally played at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon , Switzerland, although for the 2022–23 edition, they were moved to the Stade de Genève due to increased interest in the tournament from the supporters of the participating clubs. The winners are awarded the Lennart Johansson Trophy, named in honour of the former UEFA president . The most successful teams are Barcelona and Chelsea , with two titles each. Chelsea won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016, while Barcelona won
384-506: The inaugural season of the competition and clinched their second trophy in 2018. The current champions are Olympiacos , who beat Milan 3–0 in the 2024 final . In May 2010, UEFA organised a match, referred to as the "UEFA Under-18 Challenge", between the under-18 teams of Bayern Munich and Internazionale , three days prior to the UEFA Champions League Final between the respective senior sides. Internazionale won
408-520: The inaugural tournament. These eight clubs first played in a league stage featuring a single round of games. The top four from this stage – UCD, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Bray Wanderers – then qualified for a final four tournament played at the National Basketball Arena . In the final, with a team coached by Dave Campbell and featuring Ciarán Kilduff and Dane Massey , Shamrock Rovers defeated UCD 4–2. St Patrick's Athletic won
432-571: The introduction of two regional divisions known as the Northern Elite Division and the Southern Elite Division and a play-off system was again used to decide the overall champions. The 2015 season featured three regional groups simply numbered one to three. The 2016 season saw the return of the Northern Elite Division and the Southern Elite Division format. Source : The main league championship trophy
456-449: The match 2–0 with two goals from Denis Alibec . The match was part of "UEFA Grassroots Day", and acted as an inspiration for the UEFA Youth League. The teams in the first tournament, 2013–14 UEFA Youth League , played a group stage with the same composition and calendar as the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League group stage, and was held on a 'trial basis'. The eight group-winners and eight runners-up from group stage then participated in
480-578: The other Dr Tony O'Neill Cup, a national competition organised by the FAI for schools teams. Source : The Enda McGuill Memorial Cup is the division's league cup. It is named after Enda McGuill, a former chairman of Dundalk F.C. and a former president of the League of Ireland . Source : The vast majority of teams that have competed in the division have been the youth teams of League of Ireland clubs. The following clubs and representative teams have also competed without ever having entered
504-487: The play-offs. The 32 youth domestic champions play two rounds of two-legged ties, with the eight winners advancing to the play-offs, where they play a single match at home against the Champions League path runners-up. The round of 16 onwards retain the same format of single-leg ties as before. From the 2024–25 season onwards, the format of the UEFA Youth League will change to accommodate the changes to be seen in
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#1732786866910528-508: The quarter-finals and the remainder of the competition was decided on a knock-out basis. Between 2011–12 and 2013–14 teams playing in the division were divided into the three groups. One of these groups, the Elite Division, was a national division. The remaining teams were divided into Southern and Northern divisions. During these three seasons the winners of the Elite Division were awarded the Dr Tony O'Neill Cup. The 2014–15 season saw
552-465: The second tournament in 2008 and Cork City , with a team featuring Kevin Long , were winners in 2009. Long was one of several future Republic of Ireland internationals who featured in the early tournaments. Others included David Meyler (Cork City), Séamus Coleman ( Sligo Rovers ) and James McClean ( Derry City ). Former Republic of Ireland international, Gary Kelly , played for Drogheda United in
576-472: The winners are awarded the Dr Tony O'Neill Cup. In 2016 Cork City became the first team to represent the division in the UEFA Youth League . The inaugural season of the U21 division took place in 2000–01 and St Patrick's Athletic finished as the first champions. In 2001–02 Waterford United won the title before Cork City won their first title in 2002–03. City then retained the title in 2003–04. UCD subsequently won three of four remaining titles during
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