When you think of Cheltenham Town, you don’t tend to think of European football. The idea of continental away days is but a dream for those robins fans who dare to have such high hopes. But unbeknown to some, Cheltenham is no stranger to European football with multiple players involved at the pinnacle of the club game.
Basque left back Yuri Berchiche played seven times in 2009 in a career that eventually took him to French giants Paris St Germain where he won the Ligue 1 title, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue under Unai Emery. PSG made it to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League with Berchiche appearing twice in the competition.
The Europa league semi finals, currently featuring RB Leipzig, Rangers, West Ham and Frankfurt featured multiple former Cheltenham Town players with a chance that a former robin could make the final.
An 85th minute Angelino strike saw RB Leipzig to a 1-0 win over Rangers in the first leg of their semi final, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Scottish side featuring Connor Goldson at centre back. Goldson spent three months in Gloucestershire at the end of 2013, making his debut in a 1-0 win against Morecambe. Since making his four appearances in red and white, Goldson joined Brighton and Hove Albion before becoming Steven Gerrard’s sixth Rangers signing in 2018. Goldson would go on to win the Scottish Premiership and feature heavily in all competitions, including the Europa League.
Another former robin brought to Rangers by Champions League Champion Gerrard was Kemar Roofe who signed for £4.5m from Anderlecht. Roofe played nine times for Cheltenham in the 2013/14 season while on loan from West Brom before heading to Oxford United, Leeds United, Anderlecht and then Rangers. Roofe even held a Europa League record for a week, scoring the competitions longest goal as he found the net from 49.9 metres, his record being broken by Jordi Gomez quite soon after.
Another player to feature in Thursday's semi final, and one who found the net, is West Ham’s Michail Antonio. The then right back made nine appearances for Cheltenham in the 2009 League One campaign on loan from Reading, Antonio would later join Sheffield Wednesday in 2012, Nottingham Forest in 2014 and finally West Ham in 2015 where he has enjoyed the best spell of his career. The striker’s 21st minute strike has given the hammers hope of progressing to the final but they will have to be at the best for the second leg in Germany as they trail by two goals to one.
Another player to appear in both the Champions League and for Cheltenham Town is Finland centre back Daniel O'Shaughnessy played in this season's Champions League qualifying, Europa League qualifying and actual Europa Conference League for HJK Helsinki before joining second tier German side Karlsruher. The original long throw expert for the robins has been a regular in the early rounds of European competition since departing Gloucestershire in 2018, even appearing at EURO 2020.
Recent departure Charlie Colkett featured in the 1027 Europa League for Vitesse while completing the European set for Cheltenham thanks to a plethora of appearances in the UEFA Youth League, meaning a robins man has played in all of UEFA’s main continental cups.
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