More than 3,000 fans travelled to Budapest for the unforgettable injury-time win against Hungary last November.
Ireland fans celebrate in Budapest(Image: INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
Irish fans have been dealt a blow as the ticket allocation for the March 26 World Cup play-off semi-final against Czechia has been confirmed.
Just 1,024 tickets have been made available to away fans for the game, which will be played at Slavia Prague’s Fortuna Arena.
That’s roughly a third of the number that travelled to Budapest in November to watch Ireland book their play-off place with a sensational injury-time 3-2 win against Hungary.
The news was confirmed on social media by Ireland Football supporter liaison officer Gary Spain, and will lead to a scramble for tickets for the crucial match.
He posted: “We have a confirmed allocation of 1,024 tickets for Czechia. This will obviously be heavily oversubscribed. Allocation will be based on the last ten undersubscribed away games. The ticket office will confirm these in due course.”
Ireland were drawn away to Czechia in the draw, which took place a week after the international window that saw Troy Parrott fire the Boys in Green to wins over Portugal and Hungary.
Those two results earned Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men a shock play-off place and reignited hopes of a return to the senior men’s World Cup, 24 years after the last Irish appearance.
The winners of the Czechia-Ireland game will be at home in the play-off final five days later against the winners of Denmark’s clash with North Macedonia.
The capacity of the Fortuna Arena is 19,370, so the FAI have been given slightly more than the five percent minimum that UEFA require for travelling supporters.
Fans will have to wait until the end of next week before applications for tickets will open.
Pricing, allocation and full details will be revealed in the coming days.