IRELAND WILL BASE themselves in the historic French city of Versailles for next summer’s European Championships, it was confirmed this afternoon.
Martin O’Neill’s side will stay in the Uefa-approved Trianon Palace hotel and will use the nearby municipality football facility as their training headquarters for the tournamenet.
O’Neill, along with assistant manager Roy Keane and FAI CEO John Delaney, visited the city last Sunday following the group stage draw in Paris.
“The facilities and accommodation in Versailles are second-to-none, and will cater for every need of the team, management and backroom staff,” Delaney said.
“I visited the area with Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane, and both are extremely impressed and looking forward to being based there.”
Ireland will prepare for the tournament with a friendly double-header against Switzerland and Slovakia on 25 and 29 March before entertaining Netherlands on Friday 27 May. All games will be played at the Aviva Stadium.
The FAI’s next big decision will be to finalise a location for a pre-tournament training camp following the friendly against Holland.
In 2012, Giovanni Trapattoni brought his team to Montecatini in Italy for a week before the squad flew to Gydnia, via Budapest and a friendly with Hungary, to set-up camp for the campaign.
Ireland have been drawn in Group E alongside Belgium, Italy and Sweden and will begin their campaign against the latter in Paris on Monday 13 June.
