Athlone Town confirm Champions League tie will be played in Lissywollen

Athlone Town FC has confirmed that it will host the club's women's Champions League fixture against Cardiff City next month.

It means the game, on Wednesday, July 30, will be the first time in nearly 42 years that the club has hosted a tie in European competition.

The last time a competitive European fixture was played in Athlone was when the Town faced Standard Liège of Belgium in the European Cup in September 1983.

On that occasion, Athlone narrowly lost the first leg, on a 2-3 scoreline at home in St Mel's Park, before shipping an 8-2 defeat in the away leg.

The draw for the initial qualification stages of the women's Champions League was made yesterday (Tuesday) and pitted Athlone against Cardiff City in a three-team group.

The Athlone-Cardiff game will be a single-leg match, with the winner going on to face ŽNK Agram of Croatia in the final.

The UEFA website stated that the Athlone-Cardiff tie would be "hosted by one of the participating clubs".

Athlone Town has confirmed that its ground would be the venue for the game.

"Athlone Town AFC are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting the Women's Champions League at home, at the Athlone Town Stadium!" said the club, in a social media post.

Having won the league title for the first time last year, the Athlone women's side have maintained their impressive run of form this season.

Colin Fortune's team are currently top of the table, one point ahead of Shelbourne, having won nine of their ten league games thus far in 2025.