A positive Irish football story.
It looks likely that the Republic of Ireland will play at Euro 2028 regardless of whether they qualify automatically or not.
FAI chief executive David Courell has said that because of ongoing conversations with UEFA, his organisation are ‘working on the assumption’ that if the team fail to qualify automatically, they will receive a wildcard slot as a host venue.
This outcome has been helped by the fact that Northern Ireland will not be hosting a fixture.
The British government have decided not to fund the redevelopment of Antrim’s Casement Park – with their home ground of Windsor Park falling under the 30,000 capacity UEFA requirement.
Courell said: “I won’t go into the details of it, but what I will say is that we are very confident that we will feature in Euro 2028.
“We are having conversations with Uefa but the working assumption is all of us will go through qualification and if we are unsuccessful in qualifying on merit, then there will be automatic slots in reserve but that has yet to be ratified by Uefa.
“We will have the benefit of a highly increased likelihood of qualifying if we don’t go through on merit.”
With one less stadium to host games, Courell also revealed that the FAI put forward the motion of using either Cork’s Pairc Uí Chaoimh or Croke Park.
However, UEFA rejected this proposal and instead decided to go ahead with nine venues as opposed to the originally planned ten.
This will give the Aviva Stadium – already in line to host four group games, a last-16 tie, and a quarter-final clash – the opportunity to increase their match load.
Courell continued: “We’re keen to see [The IFA] as a partner for this tournament. They could host a draw, broadcast or training centre, or something. All of these variables are up for discussion.
“The progress is that Uefa have decided that they’d like to fall back to a nine-venue solution. The games due to be hosted in Northern Ireland are due to be distributed across the existing venues within the Euro 2028 tournament plan.
“Obviously, the Republic of Ireland is fighting to get as many as we possibly can. There are limitations on what we can host in the Aviva. Not because it’s not an amazing facility, but we’re already hosting four group games, one last-16 and one quarter-final.
“The schedule needs to plan for adequate rest days for the pitch through the intervening period, plus the machinations of each group. We’ve expressed an interest to host a further two games but I think that is probably a stretch.
“I’d just make the point that the FAI were very supportive of a 10th venue being stood up in the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Government have been hugely supportive, not only to us, but to attract as much of this tournament as possible to these shores. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a decision for us. We made those representations but Uefa have decided on a nine-venue solution.”
