So who are Shamrock Rovers' Europa League opponents Stjarnan?

As Shamrock Rovers prepare to open their Europa League qualifying campaign against Stjarnan on Thursday evening, we take a look at the Icelandic side and ask...

So who are Stjarnan?

Shamrock Rovers' opponents in the first round qualifying round are, in many ways, the polar opposites of their esteemed visitors on Thursday night.

Formed in 1960, long after the Hoops came into existence in 1899, Stjarnan only gained entry to the Urvalsdeild karla, Iceland's top league, for the first time in 2009.

They won their first and only top-flight league title in 2014, while Rovers have won the highest level of the League of Ireland 17 times – a record.

Their women's team is somewhat more successsful than the male variant, having taken home four of the last six Women's Premier League titles.

Stjarnan are based in Garðabær, which like most large towns in Iceland is based within the Capital Region and is effectively a commuter town for the capital, located less than ten kilometres away.

The club gained online notoriety in 2010 when their creative goal celebrations, including imitating fishermen and a fish and a machine gun shoot-out, went viral.

European pedigree

Stjarnan may only have been in Iceland's top tier for a less than a decade, but they've packed in some eventful European nights in a short space of time.

A third place finish in the 2013 season earned Stjarnan a spot in the first qualifying round of the Europa League the following year – the beat Bangor City of Wales 4-0 home and away in their very first European tie.

The following round saw Stjarnan drawn against another British side, Motherwell, and they dispatched the Scottish side with a 5-4 win after extra time, both ties having finished 2-2 within 90 minutes.

That set up a meeting with Poland's Lech Poznan, and the Icelanders stunned their vastly more wealthy opponents by winning the home leg 1-0 before holding on for a goalless draw in the return game in Poland.

Unfortunately, that was as far as Stjarnan were to progress in their maiden campaign, as they lost 9-0 on aggregate to Italian powerhouse Inter in the play-off round.

By virtue of winning the league in 2014, Stjarnan were entered into the Champions League draw for the first time in 2015/16 and once again drew a British side as the name Celtic was pulled out of the hat.

The Scottish champions won the first leg 2-0 before dishing out a 4-1 hammering back in Iceland as Stjarnan were once again taught a lesson in clinical finishing by a major European side.

Current league form

Like the League of Ireland, Iceland necessarily runs over a calendar year rather than the autumn-spring season that is traditional across Europe.

With nine games played, Stjarnan currently sit third in the table, behind the newly-promoted Grindavik and top-of-the-table Valur, with nine games played.

Their progress has been stilted in recent weeks, however, as they've now gone four games without a league win, including three defeats in a row before Saturday's 2-2 draw with ÍA.

Those two results have seen Stjarnan drop from first position at the beginning of the month to six points behind the leaders.

A Trojan (or Danish) horse

While there are few names Irish fans could be expected to recognise in the Stjarnan squad, there is one former player who could give Rovers' opponents the lowdown on what to expect from the Hoops.

Former Derry City and current Dundalk defender Niclas Vemmelund was a member of the Stjarnan squad that reached the Europa League play-off round in 2014.

Vemmelund spent two years with the club, helping them to their first ever Urvalsdeild title and playing in seven of their eight European games that season, including the two defeats to Inter.

The Dane was on the scoresheet late on for Dundalk in their 2-1 defeat to Rovers in Tallaght in May and he may have a few tips for his former teammates on how to unlock the defence.

Shamrock Rovers' Europa League first qualifying round first leg against Stjarnan is scheduled for Thursday, June 29^th with a kick-off time of 8.15pm Irish time.