{"id":519833,"date":"2026-06-26T17:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519833\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:14:10","slug":"one-of-irelands-two-neutral-venues-for-games-against-israel-has-been-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519833\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Ireland&#8217;s two neutral venues for games against Israel has been revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first of the neutral venues for Ireland\u2019s two Nations League matches against Israel has been revealed.<\/p>\n<p>The pair of matches is\u00a0set to go ahead\u00a0as it stands (despite mounting pressure and protests for the FAI to boycott them), in neutral venues, with Ireland\u2019s \u2018home\u2019 match to be behind closed doors as well.<\/p>\n<p>However, before that \u2018home\u2019 game, Ireland will face Israel in their designated home match. When the draw was made earlier this year, there were mutterings that Israel intended to play one of the Nations League games in Tel-Aviv, for what would\u2019ve been their first game in Israel since the Gaza War.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Nagyerdei-Stadion-2.jpg\" alt=\"ireland israel\" class=\"wp-image-1785592\"  \/>Nagyerdei Stadion. Pic: Image Photo Agency\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>But, it\u2019s now been confirmed by the Republic of Ireland Supporters\u2019 Liaison Officer that the first of Ireland\u2019s games against Israel will take place at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, on September 27.<\/p>\n<p>Debrecen is a city near the Romanian border with Hungary, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the country\u2019s capital, Budapest, and about two hours and twenty minutes by train.<\/p>\n<p>The Nagyerdei Stadion holds 20,340 spectators, making it the third-largest stadium in Hungary, and hosts the local top-flight side Debreceni Vasutas Sport Club. It has regularly hosted Israel\u2019s matches since 2023 and was also the temporary home ground for Qatar in 2021, when they played in European qualifying to prepare for the 2022 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Nagyerdei-Stadion-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1785591\"  \/>Nagyerdei Stadion. Pic: Claudio Villa \u2013 FIGC\/FIGC via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Ireland actually played Qatar in that ground back in 2021, playing out a 1-1 draw, which saw James McClean open the scoring early after four minutes, before Mohamed Muntari equalised in the second half.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear at the moment whether away fans will be allowed at the Nagyerdei Stadion for the Israel game. Fans have been permitted at the stadium for Israel\u2019s previous games there, but with the nature and hostility of these games, UEFA may decide to play this game behind closed doors.<\/p>\n<p>The venue for Ireland\u2019s \u2018home\u2019 match against Israel is yet to be confirmed, but we do know it will take place behind closed doors on October 4.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Israeli Federation and UEFA have confirmed Debrecen in Hungary as the venue for our game in September. No info on tickets yet. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L9djvWO7Rf\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/L9djvWO7Rf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ireland Football SLO (@IrelandSLO) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IrelandSLO\/status\/2070505249610031571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 26, 2026<\/a><br \/>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first of the neutral venues for Ireland\u2019s two Nations League matches against Israel has been revealed. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-519833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}