Belfast was in line to have five matches from the finals in 2028 as part of the joint UK/Ireland bid, but when the UK government confirmed last month that they would not fund the rebuild of Casement Park due to rising costs, it ended Belfast’s involvement.
Rather than finding a new city to host games, such as Sunderland or Edinburgh, it was expected that Belfast’s matches would be shared out between four venues already down to host games – Dublin, Cardiff, Glasgow and London’s Wembley Stadium – but no decision has been reached by UEFA.
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They have also yet to make a call on the qualification process and how host nations can find a route to qualifying for the finals, though the idea of England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland all qualifying automatically as hosts has effectively been ruled out.
UEFA had initially knocked back the idea of Dublin having two venues, the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park, as they wanted each host city – bar London – to have only one stadium, for security and logistical reasons.
Hosting games in Cork’s Páirc uí Chaoimh has previously been floated and the senior minister responsible for sport, Catherine Martin TD, today hinted at a move to Cork with an appeal for a “regional” spread of games.
“I think that’s ultimately for the stakeholders themselves to decide. But yes, the more that can be held on a wider spread … 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,” Martin said.
Thomas Byrne, the minister of state with sport as his brief, backed that up. “We want more matches, we’ve expressed a view to UEFA, we want them on a regional basis. I’ve spoken about that before. Our overarching objective is to have more games on the island. There are ongoing discussions with partners about that, but it is their decision at the end of the day,” Byrne said.
Senior figures within the FAI have already expressed their doubts about Cork’s GAA HQ being suitable to host matches at Euro 2028, due to capacity issues and other logistical factors, not to mention a clash with the GAA season in June.
Currently, the seating capacity for the Páirc is 23,000, including the premium level, with the capacity for standing on terraces of a further 24,000, but the limited seating would be a concern.
Adding Croke Park as a second stadium for Ireland to fill the gap left by Belfast’s exit from the bid would make more sense, but UEFA remain cool on any city, bar London, having two venues.
