Roberto Lopes will be in action for Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght Stadium on Thursday. Photo by Una Murray

Final European game of season for Rovers

Michael Howley December 17, 2025 2:29 pm

SHAMROCK Rovers are set to undergo their final European game for this season on Thursday evening as they host Hamrun Spartans in Tallaght Stadium.

The game had the potential to be a nailbiting clash had Rovers gotten a win in Iceland last week. A win at home this Thursday would have left them in a strong position to make the European play-offs for the second consecutive season.

Unfortunately Rovers were unable to get the job done last week and were defeated in Iceland 3-1 by Breidablik. They now find themselves in a game against Hamrun Spartans with only pride and prize money on the line.

Clubs received over €3 million for reaching the group stage of the Conference League while a sum of €400,000 was on offer for every win and €133,000 for each draw in the league phase of the competition.

Rovers are yet to win a game but will have banked €133,000 for the impressive draw against AEK Athens earlier this year.

Each team will also receive a payment based on their final position in the table at the conclusion of the league phase.

This amount is initially set to be €28,000 and is known as a share. The team at the bottom of the table will receive one share while the team at the top will receive 36.

The share value number of €28,000 is also set to increase with any savings made from draws in the league phase being used to proportionally increase the initial value of the shares distributed to each position.

For the Spartans they are also out of the Conference League despite sitting on three points. A win would take them to six overall while a minimum of seven would be needed to even possibly contend for a play off position.