FAI sets sights on hosting 2024 Europa League final

As flagged in the Irish Examiner last month, Europe’s governing body, eager to maximise ticket revenue in a challenging Covid-19 marketplace, moved Ireland’s four fixtures elsewhere.

All three of the Group E matches are instead to be staged in St Petersburg, while another of the initial hosts, London, will take on an eighth match at Wembley Stadium, the last-16 tie potentially between England and Germany or France.

While FAI and Sport Ireland officials had hoped up to the late stages for Uefa to revise their demands downwards, they had privately conceded defeat and began looking towards pitching for other events.

Already in their sights is one of Uefa’s club finals and FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill claimed that the soundings for success in the corridors of power were already encouraging.

Uefa grants hosting rights for finals in cycles, with the venues for all deciders up to 2023 already accounted for.

They will stage five finals from the following year; the men’s and women’s Champions League, Europa League, Europa League Conference League, and Super Cup.

It would take for Uefa to reduce their stadia criteria to facilitate Dublin mounting a bid for a Champions League final, as not since 1998 has the biggest club game in European football been played before a crowd less than the Aviva’s 51,000-seater capacity.

Much more likely is a tilt at winning the rights for the Europa League decider.

The Dublin arena housed the 2011 final between Portuguese rivals Porto and Braga.

“I’m pleased to say that we had constructive discussions with Uefa,” Hill told FAI TV. “I’m thrilled at the prospect of us hosting a club final at some point in the very near future. That’s great news.”

It was the association’s president, Gerry McAnaney, who represented the FAI at Uefa’s annual congress in Montreux earlier this week.

Only the onset of the doomed Super League project on Sunday night saved the Irish bid from being eliminated the following morning but even the four-day extension didn’t generate sufficient time for the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) to soften their stance.

Munich managed to sway their government into providing an assurance on 14,000 fans for their matches while Spain were able to switch their set from Bilbao to Seville.

“The reality here is that circumstances beyond our control have led to the games being moved and we have to acknowledge that public health must come first in a global pandemic,” said Hill, acknowledging the work undertaken by the project team since the hosting was initially confirmed in 2014.

“This is the end of the Euro 2020 project but the dedication and professionalism of all involved makes everyone at the FAI more determined than ever to bring big games and big tournaments to our country.

“I am delighted that Uefa have recognised our endeavours by agreeing to work with us on big projects for Dublin and Ireland in the future including the staging of a Uefa club final at the Aviva Stadium after 2023 which is something to really look forward to as we enter our centenary year.”

There was some crumb of comfort by the FAI drawing €500,000 from Uefa’s Euro 2020 funding towards the Dalymount Park reconstruction project.

However, longer term, exploratory plans are afoot for the FAI to be part of a joint bid to host the biggest show on earth.

Hill added: “We remained committed to working with our fellow associations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in relation to the feasibility study for hosting a Fifa World Cup in 2030. That remains a priority for us.”

In metaphorical terms, that quest must first get out of the group to ascend into the knockout stages.

Spain and Portugal confirmed in October their intention to also put themselves in the running and Uefa Aleksander Ceferin has already noted that Europe has a better prospect of victory by collectively supporting a lone bid.