World Cup qualifiers: Republic of Ireland v Hungary, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm
Key Reads
There are three Attilas in Hungary’s squad, one in the starting line-up and two on the bench, so if any of them has a decisive impact on the game, the headlines will write themselves.
On the bench for Ireland tonight: Gavin Bazunu, Mark Travers, Jimmy Dunne, Bosun Lawal, Liam Scales, Jack Taylor, Killian Phillips, Kasey McAteer, Mikey Johnston, Chiedozie Ogbene, Adam Idah and Johnny Kenny.
The gaffer gives his pre-match thoughts:
🗣️ “Hopefully we can feed the fans with positive actions on the pitch”
Heimir Hallgrímsson gives his thoughts on tonight’s opening FIFA World Cup 26 Qualifier ahead of kick-off 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/rPAbzckspy
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) September 6, 2025
Over in Yerevan, it finished 5-0 to Portugal against Armenia, yer man (hint: CR7) getting his second of the night with a bit of a peach. Even at 84, he’s useful.
Hungary’s Italian manager Marco Rossi appears to have gone for a 4-1-4-1 set-up, but we’ll see how that plays out. Three of Robbie Keane’s Ferencváros players are included, goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz, 19-year-old midfielder Alex Tóth and striker Barnabás Varga – who has scored 10 goals for his club already this season.
Full-back Milos Kerkez, Liverpool’s €46 million signing from Bournemouth, starts, as, of course, does his club-mate Dominik Szoboszlai, Hungary’s captain. English-born Callum Styles, a team-mate of Mikey Johnston and Jayson Molumby at West Brom, wins his 25th cap.
Hungary: Dénes Dibusz; Milos Kerkez, Attila Szalai, Willi Orbán, Loïc Négo; Callum Styles; Roland Sallai, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alex Tóth, Bendegúz Bolla; Barnabás Varga.
We have our starting line-up:
STARTING XI | Ireland v Hungary
Ferguson, Szmodics & Azaz all start as Ireland kick-off the World Cup qualifying campaign at the Aviva Stadium tonight (KO 7:45pm) 🤩
Be loud, be proud. Get behind the boys tonight 💚🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/ItjqqeYf8E
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) September 6, 2025
We’ll have to wait and see what formation Hallgrímsson opts for, but if it’s a 4-4-1-1, then he’ll have Jake O’Brien, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea and Matt Doherty as his back four, in front of Caoimhín Kelleher. Josh Cullen and Jason Knight are his midfielders, with Sammie Szmodics to their right and Ryan Manning on the left. Finn Azaz has been chosen to fill the slot behind Evan Ferguson.
If we had this fella at the back tonight, Caoimhín Kelleher would be able to have a 90 minute nap. Loving the legend’s confidence.
Meanwhile, it’s 3-0 at half-time for Portugal away to Armenia in the opening game of their campaign in Ireland’s group, João Cancelo adding the third. Hopefully Armenia will be worn out by the end of it – Ireland visit Yerevan on Tuesday.
Portugal are already 2-0 up away to Armenia. João Félix scored after 10 minutes and a young fella by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the lead 10 minutes later.
Malachy Clerkin has done nothing for our nerves: “Ireland have taken part in five campaigns since the start of this decade – three Nations Leagues as well as qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Euros. Not only have they lost their first home game each time, they haven’t scored a goal.”
Cripes.
You have plenty of reading to do before kick-off, some are linked above, but here is your full menu.
Gavin Cummiskey previews the game, and takes a stab at predicting the shape of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s line-up.
Ken Early writes about “the biggest international match Dublin has hosted in nearly eight years”.
Malachy Clerkin looks at the impact Hallgrímsson has had in his 14 months in charge so far.
Gordon Manning takes us on a trip down memory lane.
Kevin Kilbane says Ireland’s hopes in this campaign may rest on a certain Roma striker.
[ Ireland’s chance of success falls on Evan Ferguson’s shouldersOpens in new window ]
James McDermott takes us through the history of Republic of Ireland v Hungary meetings.
[ Recent history bodes well for Hallgrímsson’s men ahead of World Cup qualifierOpens in new window ]
And Michael Walker profiles Dominik Szoboszlai, the Hungarian captain.
[ Limiting Dominik Szoboszlai triple threat key if Ireland are to hamper HungaryOpens in new window ]
Szoboszlai is reasonably good at free-kicks too.
Afternoon all, are you ready for the start of the Republic of Ireland’s 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign? No? Well, you’d want to get a move on because it kicks off at 7.45 this evening at a sold-out Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2). Hungary are the first opponents on the road to …. hopefully …. the United States/Canada/Mexico next summer.
With world rankings in brackets, Ireland (60) were drawn in group F with Portugal (6), Hungary (38) and Armenia (105). These are their fixtures:
Today: RoI v Hungary, Dublin; September 9: Armenia v RoI, Yerevan; October 11: Portugal v RoI, Lisbon; October 14: RoI v Armenia, Dublin; November 13: RoI v Portugal, Dublin; November 16: Hungary v RoI, Budapest.
The group winners automatically qualify for the World Cup, the runners-up go into the play-offs next March where they’ll have to conquer two nations to qualify.
There’s a third route to those play-offs that involves how you fared in the Nations League, but even Archimedes would struggle to understand the permutations. Those who can make sense of them say Ireland’s chances of prevailing on that front are exceedingly slim.
So, we’ll stick with needing to win the group or, a heap more realistically, taking second place. Portugal – who kick off against Armenia in Yerevan at 5.0 today – are, naturally, favourites to top it, which, barring any catastrophes against Armenia, means Ireland and Hungary will slug it out for the runners-up spot. Which makes tonight’s game mahoosive.