We're proposing to host it along with NI, Scotland, Wales and England. World Cup 2030 bid officially withdrawn.

Not clear whether that would mean automatic qualification but, as it is likely to be a 32 team tournament by then, automatic qualification might not be that big a benefit anyway compared to previously.

Kids like Young Doherty should be hitting his peak around then

Nah f**k it, we need a glamour event 

North would be hosting training bases rather than games according to an article last week

Would be ironic if the using the GAA facilities was the only way NI could host games. 

GSTQ blaring out at Casement though - surely not going to happen.

I couldn't see them hosting any games.

Put money into grassroots and LOI yiz dopes. 

I would hope that this would be a cash generator and push government investment. It would have its own separate additional budget and would not touch existing human resource availability. Also it might kick start investment into the LOI and the youth structures.

However my nightmare scenario is that this eats into already scarce resources, either cash wise or peoples time, that should be focused on our structures, academies and the LOI.

This could be a great thing in bringing football in this country to a different level or it could be a disaster if it causes any reduction in our current resources. We are a good country at hosting events so I am currently 51-49 in favour of this but .............. lots more detail needed.

Lol.

I wouldn’t for a second rule put us supplying a single venue which will host 5/6 matches. I fully expect it to be England led.

Depends on what it is up against. England can easily do it on their own but the UK government investing in an English only bid, I guess the politicians in Wales, Scotland and the North don't look too kindly on that and why they want to include the others officially. Then if you having it on both islands, might as throw us in as well. That must be the thinking behind it.

If we come up against a Russia or Italy, then maybe we could be screwed as a bid. But if the opposition is a Balkan bid, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria,  Scandinavian or Turkey, then I think the bid would have a good chance to win. 

Probably some serious FOMO after the Dublin's Euro 2020 games were moved to St Petersburg. 

Turkey have bid for the last 5, i suppose UEFA might consider them this time around.

Italians also expressed interest, would be hilarious if they pipped the English to both the Euros title and hosting rights 

Turkey won't get it. Sure they came up with the multi host format just to avoid giving it to them as no other single country was willing to bid at the time. 

Could do worse. Has the infrastructure.

The government won’t need to invest anything in the redevelopment or infrastructure for Lansdowne or Croke Park. The windfall can then go towards the grassroots and the LoI. 

Much easier way of reducing the debt and guaranteeing the future of the game than trying to selling 10 year corporate boxes for 32k a pop or asking the government for handouts.

We’d actually qualify for it 

WTF? 

The games would only be played in Lansdowne, or maybe at a push Croker, so there's next to no capital investment needed here to host this. No doubt there will be shouts about trying to get games down to Cork, but that's a non-starter, the stadium there is nowhere near the standard needed, so it will just be Dublin. We'd probably get one group of 6 games and a second round game, maybe a quarter final as well.

If it generates income for the game here, what's the problem really?

Grassroots & the LOI need investment now...not in six years time.

..

It doesn't take a genius to work out what Uefa are saying. 

Not sure which stadium you're referencing here. Turners Cross would be a non starter for obvious reasons. Pairc Uí Chaoimh could potentially be a goer but it would require two things that won't get off the ground: A) GAA permission. B) UEFA signing off on the use of temporary 'bucket' seats.

7 games. Would presume that means all of a groups games are in Dublin then opposed to being split say between Dublin and (Potentially) Belfast. And then a last 16 game

You'd have thought that but a Moroccan / North African bid is now favorites according to sources on Twitter and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they 'won' it.

It is a delish irony that The Orange Football Team need to go cap in hand to The GAA though 

Yeah, I meant Pairc UI Chaiomh. It only has around 20,000 permanent seats in the two stands running down the sides of the pitch. The rest is huge terraced areas so it wouldn't be suitable for international football qualifiers, never mind a major tournament finals.

Interesting to see reports of a few games in the north. 30,000 is usually the minimum capacity for tournament finals so would be interesting to see how they're going to work that one.

Would a 30k Windsor be viable long term (with all due respect )though unless it's tempoary addition like some stadiums did previously. Think Charleroi reduced after the Euros

They'll throw Morocco in with Spain and Portugal as a 3 country bid.

This is the most likely outcome I think. 

Yep. One of the articles last week suggested it would be more likely they'd host a number of training bases instead

Surprised Elland Road is on the list, has it even changed since Euro 96?

Pure guess work from The Times nothing official. Southampton's ground or Brighton's I'd have thought would be ahead of it unless it's geographical reasons

Apparently they can’t get the government money to upgrade their stadiums 

I believe they've a redevelopment plan for the ground. Although it's a long time in the making!

Though Jonathan Hill said in an interview today that there's absolutely no reason the two should be mutually exclusive. You can put money into the grassroots and develop the structures 'and' hold a major tournament in a few years time. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Really?

UEFA have already just awarded this June's inaugural  "Finalissima" between Italy (Euro champions) and Argentina (Copa America champions) to London, which is also where a new shared UEFA/CONMEBOL office will be based:

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/0270-13f6f29ca74e-264305ef4e74-1000--uefa-and-conmebol-renew-and-extend-memorandum-of-understanding/" rel="nofollow - https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/0270-13f6f29ca74e-264305ef4e74-1000--uefa-and-conmebol-renew-and-extend-memorandum-of-understanding/

While the 2024 Champions League Final has also been given to Wembey.

Don't get so defensive Terrence.  I'm not having a go at your precious UK.

You’d have to be some fool, and that’s being kind, not to see what this vanity project is about. A crowd of washed up board members and an Executive looking for a leg back up to a decent position in the FA.

Johnny Hill today in his infobyte sounded like Infantino a couple of weeks ago and how the biennial World Cup would save African refugees from death. 

Two absolute clowns. The FAI Board were mugged. 

I'd say you're the one who's beiing "defensive".

You know, what with having been shown to be plumb wrong.

Oh and I was speaking about the FA, not my "precious" UK.

Which makes no sense unless money is unlimited. With a fixed budget, any money going to the bid is not going to grassroots football.

Denis Irwin wrote: Still think the South American bid will get it on account of it being the centenary WC

You are familiar with the way FIFA operate?

Firstly they need the government for money for day to day costs atm and its somehting they can offer to the government as a benefit in terms of what it does for tourism etc....

Secondly, I presume all targets including this one are part of a plan of growing the game domestically here. So they intend on selling out say the FAI cup final, by building and investing in the league

This is what I hope anyway

it's time to get rid of this clown. How can we talk about spending millions on a tournament when grassroots football is in a complete mess? 

This vanity project is something along the lines that John Delany would have thought up. The whole idea is to deflect from the real issue that Irish clubs are in dire need of funding.

It's additional Government money. They see return on investment with this. Tourism etc. 

I think I'd prefer if it was a proper bid where we would have to serious upgrade our footballing infrastructure. A bid where there was a game say in each province and leaving each province a regional central of excellence that was used as a training base by competing teams and that some type of legacy was left behind once euro 2028 is long gone.

Jonathan Hill has no intention of being still in the FAI by 2025, the goals they have set tell you that. I can't see a CEO agreeing to go with them unless he knew wouldnt be hanging around.

Spell in the FAI is just a stepping stone back in to a higher role in English FA I'd say for him

As a long time fan, I have absolutely no doubt that a 30k WP could be viable in terms of filling it regularly.

But the congested footprint of the ground makes it impossible from a practical pov to expand the capacity, even temporarily. At a minimum you'd have to knock down and rebuild a couple of existing stands and buy up one side of Olympia Drive (60-80 houses?), to allow for reinforced foundations, plus improved emergency access and egress etc. (The railway line very close to the east stand certainly doesn't help, either). Planning permission and local opposition would be a nightmare.

And even if we had the many millions needed to do so, which we don't, you'd never get the cost back through increased revenues over the usable life of the stadium.

The big mistake was in not squeezing in every possible extra seat at the time it was rebuilt. My guess is that we might have achieved 22-24k?

Who said the FAI are spending "millions" on this? It's a UK bid really, we're just piggybacking along. The English will be the predominant funders as they'll be hosting the majority of games, including the semis and the final. 

It's almost a free hit for the FAI really. Host a few games, bring in a few quid, the venues are already built so no expense there. I really don't see much of a problem with this.

I feel like you should get some sort of award for squeezing so much crap into so few words.

Well done!

colemanY2K wrote: The Times article says there's 3 options. An upgraded Windsor, casement or a brand new stadium. Unlikely to be casement or a new stadium.

Windsor cannot/will not be upgraded (see earlier post).

There will not be a brand new stadium.

It's Casement or nothing, and I actually think it could be made to work, since it would suit all parties:

1. The bid; 2. The IFA (keeps them well in with UEFA); 3. The GAA (could help them to squeeze a few more millions out of Stormont); 4. Belfast City Council (tourism etc).

Unfortunately the biggest threat could be one of time, since a firm commitment would probably have to be made by 2025(?). And if Ulster GAA and the Fools on the Hill cannot get the finger out and get back to work, we could see another 3 year delay before the GAA money, promised a decade ago(!) is finally released, meaning we could miss the deadline.

Denis Irwin wrote: Still think the South American bid will get it on account of it being the centenary WC

Originally, yes.

But things have since changed. For FIFA only came up with the "2030 Centenary" idea as a ploy to keep it out of the hands of UEFA, whose turn it is, but who they absolutely hate.

However, when they came up with the idea of a biennial WC, they immediately drove CONMEBOL into the arms of UEFA, since that would screw their own Copa America.

Further, if FIFA proceed with their bonkers idea of expanding to 48 finalists, even when combinig with Argentina, Paraguay AND Chile, there is no way even all four would have the number of modern, high-capacity stadia needed without spending extra billions (literally), which they don't have. And that's before you get to the supporting infrastructure (raods, transport, airports etc).

Which lesson was reinforced by Brazil spunking billions on the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, back when times appeared good, economically speaking.

At last!

Someone talking sense/

Agree. It also keeps our governmnet happy and engaged with the FAI on money matters

How can I be ''plumb wrong'' when they haven't announced where 2028 will be yet?

The fact that they are already awarding finals in the meantime to Wembley actually decreases the chances of Wembley hosting yet another final in 2028.  They had 2 semis and a final last year.  I doubt they will take it back so soon.  Wembley has been given more than its fair share of finals in the last 10 years.   Do we just let Wembley host the final of the CL and Euros every time now because its the biggest and most lucrative stadium??

As for your defensiveness you are always ridiculously touchy about any criticism of the Premier League not being as good as say some other league.  I get the impression any sort of criticism of anything British seems to bring out your inner Jim Allister.

One of the biggest stadia in Europe capable of holding it - of course they'll use it again.

Like when it host back to back Champions League finals

UEFA may not award 2028 to England, but if they don't that will not be because of the trouble at Wembley etc.  Nor will it be because 2028 is especially "soon", since England hasn't actually hosted the Euro's since 1996 i.e. 32 years previously (2021 was an anomaly).

While England being one of the few remaining countries in UEFA which could still easily host a 24 team, never mind a 32 team Finals, has helped its case by incorporating another four UEFA members, at the same time as stepping aside to allow UEFA to promote Spain/Portugal for WC2030.

Meaning that imo England must have a very good chance of being awarded Euro2028. But we'll see.

Trap junior wrote: As for your defensiveness you are always ridiculously touchy about any criticism of the Premier League not being as good as say some other league.  I get the impression any sort of criticism of anything British seems to bring out your inner Jim Allister.

I wasn't talkng about the PL, just as I wasn't talking about England, never mind the UK [sic]

I was discussing the FA and their bid for 2028, which you described as "stupid", without anything to back it up.

Of course, I could equally accuse you of being "anti-Brit" or some such nonsense, except I prefer to try to keep to the point - in this case the FA, an organisation for which I have no great regard generally.

Oh and while you raise the subject, I personally think that Jim Allister is a complete dick - not that he has anything to do with this debate either.

I doubt very much the FAI have an option to 'spend the money elsewhere'. This seems to be a common line for those against this.

Hill must have mentioned the word 'Government' 15 times the other day. Potentially, this will be worth circa 150m to the exchequer. There is a tangible return on investment. 

We have debt mounting close to 80million and can only survive on Government support. A Euros here in 2028 would be good for the economy and who knows, maybe there will be a chunk of money going towards the game's development here. 

The UK World Cup 2030 bid had included a 500m windfall for grassroots over there.   

Looks like bidders for this will be Turkey and Romania/Greece/Bulgaria/Serbia 

You'd have to think the biggest competition will come from that Balkan bid as UEFA seem fairly reluctant to give it to Turkey.

Looking at infrastructure stadium wise in those four based on the criteria

You'd imagine issues in the stands in Serbia and Bulgaria in recent times would rule out any serious prospects for that bid. Some of their issues make what happened at the Euro 2020 final look like a non-event.

Reading between the lines I'd say UK/IE has been informally told it's in the bag in order for them to drop out of the 2030 bid. Spain/Portugal (possibly+Morocco) will be UEFA's bidder for 2030 and Italy will get 2032. 

Limited enough options available to UEFA for a 24/32 team Euros, which is what led to the Europe wide mess of a tournament we saw last year. So it makes sense for them to sort it out up to 2032 with the UK/IE and Italy bids while the opportunity is there.

To be fair to them Turkey would have stadium capacity to host too based on the criteria, UEFA just doesn't seem to want them to have it.

But I agree, there must have been some conversations in corridors in regards to the hosting, sure The Germans pulled out of wanting to host the Euro 2020 finals as they came to an agreement with England that they'd back their bid for 2024.

The Turkans want to do a  Euro 2028 on it.

It would make Limerick looks safe

Limerick?   2009 said hello. 

Even with 32 teams there has got to be a reasonable chance that at least one of the five hosting nations misses out on qualifying for the tournament.

Hard to get excited by a tournament in England tbh and the prices of hotel rooms in Dublin when our home games will be through the roof 

Am in England every week for work 

Add in 5 personal trips for family reasons it’s not an ‘exotic’ destination 

Russia haven't a hope in hell. You'd still imagine UEFA would favour the joint bid

cildaratown wrote: hopefully we win over Turkey. Seems like Turkey always tries to bid but doesn’t get a lot of support.

Not mad on the idea of us holding the tournament but Turkey is an awful kip altogether.

They won't of course because uefa will make a lot more money with the uk/ireland bid

Some neck on them.

Pure propaganda so that they can pipe it into the homes back behind the iron curtain, and play it off as if everything's normal. We still bid for euro games and sh*t. Those Western countries.be sniffin the cheap Lithuanian glue.