{"id":525031,"date":"2026-06-30T01:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T01:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/525031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T01:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T01:29:16","slug":"ireland-will-play-israel-in-serbia-as-neutral-venue-for-nations-league-match-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/525031\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland will play Israel in Serbia as neutral venue for Nations League match \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Football Association of Ireland has confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/republic-of-ireland-mnt\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/republic-of-ireland-mnt\/\">Ireland\u2019s<\/a> Uefa Nations League fixture against Israel on October 4th has been moved from Dublin to Ba\u010dka Topola in Serbia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">While the FAI initially planned to host Israel in Dublin, they decided to move the game to a neutral venue earlier this month, citing \u201coperational challenges\u201d in hosting the fixture. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland\u2019s most recent home game, a friendly against Qatar at the end of May, was interrupted by multiple tennis ball protests from a coalition group calling for the FAI to boycott the Israel fixtures entirely. The FAI have refused to boycott the games, saying doing so would have negative implications for Irish football, given it may lead to relegation from the Nations League and a consequential loss of Fifa ranking points. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The FAI has now alighted on the 4,500-capacity TSC Arena in Ba\u010dka Topola as host of the fixture. The game will be held behind closed doors and the kick-off time has yet to be confirmed. Ba\u010dka Topola is a small town of approximately 23,000 people in the north of Serbia, and the TSC Arena is home to FK TSC, who were relegated last season to the second tier of Serbian football. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">This means both of Ireland\u2019s fixtures against Israel will be played in neutral venues, with Ireland\u2019s \u2018away\u2019 game against Israel fixed for the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sunday, September 27th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Season ticket holders will be updated regarding compensation in due course. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The FAI say the hosting of the game in Serbia \u201cfollows 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The FAI have, meanwhile, convened an Emergency General Meeting of its General Assembly for Wednesday, July 8th, at which members will vote on a motion relating to the playing of the fixtures to be put forward by the FAI board. The FAI has yet to publish the wording of their motion, though the Irish Times understands this motion will not call for a boycott of the fixtures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">An earlier motion submitted by members of the Assembly calling for a boycott of the games against Israel was deemed invalid by the FAI, as it did not receive letters of support from 10 per cent of the Association\u2019s membership, as mandated under the FAI\u2019s rules. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">2026-27 Uefa Nations League Fixtures<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Thursday, September 24th: Kosovo v Ireland, Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri, Pristina, 7.45pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sunday, September 27th: Israel v Ireland, Nagyerdei Stadion, Debrecen (Hungary), 7.45pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Thursday, October 1st: Ireland v Austria, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 7.45pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sunday, October 4th: Ireland v Israel, TSC Arena, Ba\u010dka Topola (Serbia), TBC<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Saturday, November 14th: Austria v Ireland, Raiffeisen Arena, Linz, 7.45pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Tuesday, November 17th: Ireland v Kosovo, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 7.45pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Football Association of Ireland has confirmed Ireland\u2019s Uefa Nations League fixture against Israel on October 4th has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13446,61,60,3410,59269,43,1842],"class_list":["post-525031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-nations-league","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525031","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=525031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}