Prague benefited from a huge spending boost this week as hordes of Irish fans splashed the cash in the run-up to Thursday’s World Cup play-off match.
It comes as Ireland is still recovering after suffering a gut-wrenching defeat to Czechia in a penalty shoot-out on Thursday night.
Ireland will rue letting a 2-0 lead slip as Troy Parrott’s penalty, as well as a Matej Kovar own goal, had the Irish fans in the Fortuna Arena in Prague going delirious.
Troy Parrott. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
However, it wasn’t to be, and Ireland lost the lottery of penalties to end their World Cup dreams.
Bank of Ireland revealed yesterday that festivities reached a fever pitch on Wednesday and Thursday, March 25 and 26, shortly before the highly anticipated game against Czechia, when Irish visitors to the city spent almost four times more money compared to the same dates in 2025.
Debit and credit card data from the bank has shown that, predictably, bars saw the largest boost.
Nathan Collins. Pic: Pavel Lebeda/Sportsfile
Irish pubs, in particular, were filled to bursting, which is reflected by the 4,400% increase in spending by Irish visitors across the Wednesday and Thursday.
Restaurant spending was up by 690%, accommodation spending by 260%, transport by 150% and retail by over 80%.
It’s estimated that more than 5,000 supporters visited Prague, while more than 1,024 official away-section tickets had been allocated by the FAI.
The Czech FA had warned that hundreds of tickets on re-selling sites were cancelled, but even so, tickets were going for as much as €2,000 and even €77,000, although it’s unlikely even the most desperate supporter would pay this price.