Trivela's UEFA Conference League fiasco - how it started and why Drogheda United find themselves on the cusp of European elimination

Drogheda United's qualification for the UEFA Conference League by winning the FAI Cup in November took Trivela by surprise. They still had seven months to prepare for this situation.

The 2025/26 UEFA Conference League gets underway next month, with 50 teams from 27 different nations taking part in the first qualifying round. It will end on May 27 with the final at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany.

That the competition will end at the home of RB Leipzig, one of the forerunners of the multi-club model now so prevalent in European football is an irony that should be lost on very few.