Friday, 10 April 2020

WELSH CLUBS IN EUROPE PART SIX - BANGOR CITY

1962/63
Cup Winner's Cup
1962 was a famous year for football in Bangor! 

City, then members of the Cheshire County League, won the 1962 Welsh Cup Final against Wrexham (they finished third in the Fourth Division!) to qualify for the 62/63 Cup Winner's Cup. 

City were drawn against Italian Cup Winner's Napoli and won the first leg played at their then Farrar Road home 2-0. The second leg was played in front of 80,000 people in Naples with the result being a 3-1 home win. 

As the away goal rule wasn't in place then there was replay at Highbury with Napoli winning 2-1 with Humberto Rosa scoring both goals.  

Preliminary Round

Napoli W 2-0 & L 1-3 (3-3) 
Napoli L 1-2 

1985/86

Cup Winners Cup
Bangor City had lost the 1985 Welsh Cup Final to Shrewsbury Town who had finished in eighth place of Division Two. As English clubs could only qualify for Europe via English competitions Bangor qualified for the 85/86 Cup Winners Cup. 

There first game came away against Norwegian side Fredrikstad which ended in a 1-1 draw followed by a 0-0 draw in Wales which sent them through to play Spanish club's Atletico Madrid in the second round.

The first leg was lost 2-0 in front of over 5,000 people with a close 1-0 defeat at the Vincente Cladron to follow in one of the club's most famous matches played. To say this was a David v Goliath match is a slight understatement with Atletico runner's up in La Liga and Copa Del Rey winners against a club who were mid-table in the Northern Premier League. 

Jorge Orosman Da Silva (a full International for Uruguay) and Quique Setien (a full International for Spain) scored in the first leg with Jesus Landaburu scoring the second leg which is still talked about today in North Wales especially Dai Davies's penalty save in the first half. 


First Round

Fredrikstad D 0-0 D 1-1 (1-1*)
Second Round
Atletico Madrid L 0-2 L 0-1 (L 0-3) 

1994/95

UEFA Cup
With the formation of the League of Wales in 1992 Bangor City were one of the Welsh sides playing in the English pyramid to transfer over - they finished in fifth place in the first season and then top in 93/94 which qualified them for the 94/95 UEFA Cup where they lost to Icelandic side IA Akranes and lost 1-4 on aggregate.

Preliminary Round 

IA Akranes L 1-2 L 0-2 (L 1-4)

1995/96

UEFA Cup 
Another League of Wales title saw Bangor City play Polish side Widzew Lodz and another aggregate defeat by a scoreline of 0-5. 

Preliminary Round

Widzew Lodz L 0-4 L 0-1 (L 0-5)

1998/99 

Cup Winner's Cup
Bangor City won the Welsh Cup in 1998 for the first time since 1962 and played Finnish side FC Haka in the qualifying round losing 0-3 on aggregate. 

Qualifying Round 

FC Haka L 0-2 L 0-1 (L 0-3) 

2000/01

UEFA Cup
A Welsh Cup win in 2000 against Cwmbran Town saw Bangor City gain entry into the UEFA Cup as the Cup Winner's Cup had been absorbed into the competition in 1999. They played Halmstads BK who were Swedish champions. The first leg played at Wrexham ended in a 0-7 defeat in front of just 761 people with the return leg ending 4-0 in front of a crowd of 646.   

Preliminary Round

Halmastads FK L 0-7 L 0-4 (L 0-11) 

2002/03

UEFA Cup
A third place League of Wales finish saw City qualify for the UEFA Cup for 02/03 where they were drawn to play Serbian Side FK Sartid Smederevo. A Paul Roberts goal took a 1-0 lead into the second leg which City lost 2-0 

Preliminary Round

FK Sartid Smederevo W 1-0 L 0-2 (L 1-2) 

2003

Intertoto Cup
Another third place league finish in 02/03 saw Bangor City qualify for the Intertoo Cup for the first time. They lost to Romanian side Gloria Bistrita 6-2 on aggregate. 

First Round

Gloria Bistrita L 0-1 L 2-5 (L 2-6) 

2005 Intertoto Cup 

More Intertoto Cup after a third place finish in 04/05 saw them face Lativian side Dinaburg and another aggregate defeat by 4-1. 

First Round

Dinaburg L 1-2 L 0-2 (L 1-4) 

2008/09 UEFA Cup 

Bangor won the 2008 Welsh Cup Final (the first of three in a row) to qualify for the UEFA Cup. They played Danish side FC Midtjylland and lost heavily 1-6 at home (played at Wrexham) and 4-0 away from home. Kim Christensen, who had played for Barnsley in 07/08, scored a hat-trick in the 1-6 game. 

First Qualifying Round

FC Midthylland L 1-6 L 0-4 (L 1-10) 

2009/10 

Europa League
The second of their three Welsh cup wins in a row saw them once again qualify for the now re-branded Europa League where Finnish side FC Honka won 3-0 on aggregate. 

First Qualifying Round

FC Honka L 0-1 L 0-2 (L 0-3) 

2010/11 

Europa League
A historic campaign for Bangor City as after twelve ties (one won on away goals in 1985) they went through with a victory gaining revenge on FC Honka when after a 1-1 draw in Finland in the second qualifying round City won the second leg 2-1 to earn a tie with Portuguese side CS Maritimo in the third qualifying round. The first leg saw a 8-2 victory for the home side and the second leg played at Wrexham saw 556 people witness a 1-2 defeat. 

Second Qualifying Round

FC Honka W 2-1 D 1-1 (W 3-1) 
Third Qualifying Round
CS Maritimo L 1-2 L 2-8 (L 3-10) 

2011/12 

UEFA Champions League
As League of Wales champions for 2011 Bangor City made their debut in the Champions League being drawn against another Finnish club in HJK Helsinki - they are Finland's biggest club and their class shone through with a 0-3 win the first leg played at Rhyl and a 10-0 win in the second leg. 

Second Qualifying Round

HJK Helsinki L 0-3 L 0-10 (L 0-13) 

2012/13
 
UEFA Cup
Another defeat this time to Moldovan side Zimbru Chisinau in the first qualifying rounds are the last games Bangor City played in European competition. The final aggregate score was a narrow 2-1 defeat. 

First Qualifying Round

Zimbru Chisinau D 0-1 L 1-2 (L 1-2)

2014/15 

UEFA Cup

First Qualifying Round
Stjarnan  L 0-4 L 0-4 (L 0-8) 

2017/18

UEFA Cup
The Citizens last game in Europe for now saw them face Danish side Lyngby where they lost 0-4 on aggregate. 

First Qualifying Round

Lyngby L 0-3 L 0-1 (L 0-4) 

The famous club formed in 1876 have suffered from financial and off the field problems over the past few years and were denied a licence to play in the Welsh top tier for the 2018/19 season - they had finished second in 17/18 and would have qualified for the UEFA Cup. 

They played 18/19 in the step two Cymru Alliance where they finished in fourth place. Following the re-organation and branding of Welsh football they now play in the Cymru North (step two) where they were in fifth place up to the suspension of football.

In April 2019 the Supporter's Association voted overwhelmingly to create a breakaway club in order to protect football in their City. The new club 'CPD Bangor 1876' played in the Gwynedd League (Step Five) for the 19/20 season and until football was suspended had a record of 16 wins from 16 games in the Premier Division scoring an incredible 115 goals and letting in just 9 goals - they were 10 points ahead from their nearest rival's Treardurr Bay Bulls. 

No comments:

Post a Comment