Ireland Requests Additional Euro 2028 Matches from UEFA

Ireland have asked UEFA to host additional 2028 European Championship matches after Northern Ireland’s Casement Park ground was ruled out as a tournament venuedue to staggering refurbishment costs. 

Last month saw the UK Government rule out funding the redevelopment of the GAA stadium due to a ‘significant risk that it would not be built’ in time for the co-hosted event. 

Building costs were estimated to be £180million when the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland were awarded their joint bid for Euro 2028 in October 2023, with potential costs potentially rising to nearly £400m. 

With the Belfast ground abandoned, Mail Sport reported in September that Wembley – where both semi-finals and the final are due to be hosted – will likely take on an additional tie. 

But ministers in Ireland have advocated that the fixtures are reallocated to elsewhere on the island ‘on a regional basis’. 

Mail Sport previously reported that Wembley was likely to pick up the re-allocated matches

But junior minister for sport Thomas Byrne and culture and sports minister Catherine Martin were keen to see more ties hosted on the island

Junior minister for sport Thomas Byrne confirmed that the country had reached out to the tournament’s governing body in a bid to see another stadium join Dublin’s Aviva Stadium as a host ground. 

‘We want more matches, we’ve expressed a view to UEFA, we want them on a regional basis, I’ve spoken about that before,’ Byrne told an audience at the national stadium as he helped launch Ireland’s national strategy for hosting major sporting events., via the Belfast Telegraph. 

‘Our overarching achievement is to have more games on the island. There’s ongoing discussions with partners about that, but it is their decision at the end of the day. 

Culture and sports minister Catherine Martin agreed that keeping the re-allocated game on the island would be a welcome benefit for regional tourism. 

‘I think that’s ultimately for the stakeholders themselves to decide. But yes, the more that can be held on a wider spread.

Irish ministers are believed to favour Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork as a potential alternative

‘I always talk about regional tourism as well, and looking at the 250,000 people working in tourism, 70 per cent of them are in the regions.’ 

Suggestions for replacement venues in Ireland include GAA flagship stadium Croke Park in Dublin, and Cork’s Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which seats 45,000. 

Casement Park’s £310m bailout was vetoed by ministers after the government had sought ‘expert advice and analysis’, as per a letter to the communities minister in Northern Ireland written by Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn and culture secretary Lisa Nandy. 

‘The estimated build costs have risen dramatically – from £180million when the Euro 2028 bid was awarded in October 2023 to potentially over £400million – and there is a significant risk that it would not be built in time for the tournament,’ the letter continued. 

Plans for redevelopment of Casement Park have been afoot for some time and planning permission has been granted (a proposed design from 2016 pictured)

‘We have therefore, regrettably, decided that it is not appropriate for the UK Government to provide funding to seek to build Casement Park in time to host matches at Euro 2028.’

 UEFA had previously visited the site in February of this year due to mounting concerns that the ground would not be fit for purpose as a hosting venue in four years’ time. 

The former GAA venue closed in 2013, but was chosen over Belfast’s Windsor Park, which hosts Northern Ireland internationals, as the latter stadium’s 18,500 capacity was deemed not big enough for UEFA’s requirements. 

Plans afoot to redevelop Casement Park into a 33,000-seater stadium have now been put on ice, despite planning permission having already being granted.