Dundalk Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dundalk, Ireland that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. They are ranked 135th in the UEFA club coefficients as of the end of the 2021–22 season, making them the highest-ranked Irish side in Europe. They have played against several major names in European football such as Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Celtic, FC Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Red Star Belgrade, Hajduk Split, Legia Warsaw, and Zenit St Petersburg. They have faced opponents from the Netherlands most often, having played ties against PSV, Ajax, DOS Utrecht, AZ Alkmaar, and Vitesse Arnhem. They made their European debut in the 1963–64 European Cup and in that campaign, they became the first Irish side to win an away match in Europe. Their best performance in the European Cup was in 1979–80, when they reached the last 16, and they reached the last 16 of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1981–82. They have qualified twice for the Europa League group stage and they became the first team from Ireland to both win points and win a match at that level of European competition in 2016–17. The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League is their 26th European campaign. Dundalk play their home matches in Oriel Park, which is a Category 2 Stadium, able to accommodate 3,100 seated spectators for European games. Matches requiring grounds to have a Category 3 status have been played in Tallaght Stadium, owned by South Dublin County Council, while matches requiring Category 4 status have been played in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Background The first continental competition organised by UEFA was the European Cup in 1955. Conceived by Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L'Équipe, as a competition for winners of the European national football leagues, it is considered the most prestigious European football competition. Two further competitions were created: the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Established in 1955, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was later re-branded as the UEFA Cup when it came under the auspices of UEFA in 1971. Since the 2009–10 season, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League. The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was inaugurated in 1960 for the winners of domestic cup competitions. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed into the UEFA Cup. History