{"id":524325,"date":"2026-06-29T15:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524325\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:24:08","slug":"irelands-home-game-against-israel-to-be-played-in-serbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524325\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland’s home game against Israel to be played in Serbia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FAI have confirmed that the Republic of Ireland’s home Nations League game against Israel will take place behind closed doors in Backa Topola, Serbia on Sunday 4 October.<\/p>\n

The match will be played at the 4,500-capacity TSC Arena.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the FAI said: “This follows a decision taken by the FAI Board to move the fixture to a neutral territory due to operational challenges that could impact on the delivery of the game on home soil.<\/p>\n

“The change of venue has been approved by UEFA and the game will be played in the TSC Arena in Ba\u010dka Topola behind-closed-doors, with the kick-off time to be confirmed in due course.”<\/p>\n

The association said they plan to update season ticket holders and Club Ireland members regarding compensation owed.<\/p>\n

UEFA previously confirmed<\/a> that the away fixture against the Israelis on 27 September will take place at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary (7.45pm kick-off).<\/p>\n

Israel hosted Italy, Norway and Estonia in Debrecen during the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, and had a a friendly there against Slovakia last June.<\/p>\n

Ireland will open their campaign away to Kosovo on Thursday, 24 September, before traveling to Hungary. The team will return to the Aviva Stadium on Thursday, 1 October to face Austria, prior to the fixture in Serbia.<\/p>\n

The nominal away fixture and the designated home match against the Israelis on 4 October have generated opposition and protest – including during last month’s Dublin friendly against Qatar<\/a> – amid the ongoing situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n

UEFA Nations League Fixtures<\/p>\n

Thursday 24 September: Kosovo v Ireland, Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri, Pristina, 7.45pm
Sunday 27 September: Israel v Ireland, Nagyerdei Stadion, Debrecen (Hungary), 7.45pm
Thursday 1 October: Ireland v Austria, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 7.45pm
Sunday 4 October: Ireland v Israel, TSC Arena, Backa Topola (Serbia), TBC
Saturday 14 November: Austria v Ireland, Raiffeisen Arena, Linz, 7.45pm
Tuesday 17 November: Ireland v Kosovo, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 7.45pm<\/p>\n

Watch every game of the FIFA 2026 World Cup live on RT\u00c9 with highlights on RT\u00c9 Sport digital platforms and live blogs on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FAI have confirmed that the Republic of Ireland’s home Nations League game against Israel will take place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-524325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524325","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=524325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}