Could the Island of Ireland hold a Soccer Tournament ..in the future?

[Denn Forever]

Just a thought.   few years ago there was talk of co-hosting the Euros with Scotland.

How about hosting it on the Island of Ireland when the new stadium in Belfast is built.  Surely we would have enough stadia by then.  How many would be needed?

But would it open up a can of worms whereby Fifa would say that there could be only on team from the Island of Ireland. 

[Tankie]

and what stadia do you plan on using? LR, Belfast and at a long shot Croker....i really think you need more than 3 stadia to hold these events.

[nifan]

No way could it be held.
Scotland can provide 3 stadiums with capacity greater than 50,000. Ni could never get even close to that,

[Drumanee 1]

simple answer is no,you would need at least 5 venues and they are not now going ahead with a national stadium in the north so that would leave you 3 short

[Gnevin]

Far more realistic to bid for a Rugby world cup.

You'd have 5 (with some work) + some soccer stadiums + poss Croker.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Not a hope of it happpening any time in the near future. Lansdowne (or whatever silly corporate name they have for it now) and Thomond are the only suitable stadia down south. The capacity of Thomond would be greatly reduced as well because they'd have to put seats on the terracing. The GAA would not make Croke Park available considering any tournament would be played in June/July thus clashing with the Leinster Championship, which of course is way more important anyway!

Even if we had the necessary stadia, our road infrastructure and public transport system is still wholly inadequate compared to most western European countries. The cost in organising security would also put the taxpayer off esecially considering the current state of the public finances. The only hope we'd have would be to bid in tandem with the Scots and the Welsh but knowing the FAI, they'd manage to feck that up somehow.

A bid for the RWC would be far more likely but even that would be very dependent on getting the GAA and Croke Park on board. It could be possible though given that the RWC is usually held in late September/October when the football and hurling championships would be winding up for the year.

[haranguerer]

Just a thought.   few years ago there was talk of co-hosting the Euros with Scotland.

How about hosting it on the Island of Ireland when the new stadium in Belfast is built.  Surely we would have enough stadia by then.  How many would be needed?

But would it open up a can of worms whereby Fifa would say that there could be only on team from the Island of Ireland.

?? 

When switzerland and austria hosted it were they only allowed to enter one team?

Not happen for a long long time, prob not ever - lack infrastruture and stadia

[Rav67]

Impossible in any of our lifetimes due to stadia. For the Euros you need 8 stadia all-seated over 30,000 I think and then a couple at over 60,000 and I'm sure there are other stipulations.  When the FAI where doing the bid with the SFA they couldn;t even guarantee 2 stadia which is one reason the bid fell through! and the IFA would only be able to provide 1 at most if and when the new stadium is built.  At least the UEFA cup final is coming to Lansdowne, and in teh future perhaps there could be a Champions League final at Croker, but thats as much as we could realistically hope for.

[Archie Mitchell]

One of the reasons the Ireland/Scotland joint bid fell through was fact that Scotland had 3 major stadiums in the one smallish city. Realisticly, you would need 8 30k plus seated stadium,in 8 different cities. Might get away with 2 in Dublin or another big city. If they were to build all seater stadiums in new cities, what use would they be after the tournament would be over? 

[brokencrossbar1]

I think a more realistic option would be a Celtic countries option.  You would have 2-3 stadia in Ireland, 2-3 in Wales and 3-4 in Scotland.  If this was put forward it would be pretty strong.  As a build up to it a Celtic League type competition without the big 2 in Glasgow could be run off.  The door for them to join the PL was left open there the other day.

[Aerlik]

We could always have a British Isles entrant, with the final in Croker

[dublinfella]

Are we not already chalked in for the U21 World Cup (could be Euros) in a few years with LR, Tallaght, Limerick, Galway, Cork & Derry lined up?

[illdecide]

Yeah Norn Iron could host the "bitter cup" and final will be Rangers v Linfield in Windsor Park (ohh did i mention there are only 2 teams in the competition)

[Rossfan]

perhaps there could be a Champions League final at Croker

NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!! 

[fitzroyalty]

If ukraine and poland can get the euros, anything is possible