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Latvia confirmed as Ireland's first opponents of 2023

The game will serve as important preparation for Stephen Kenny’s men’s European Championship qualification campaign.

LAST UPDATE | Dec 21st 2022, 3:08 PM

LATVIA HAVE been confirmed as Ireland’s first opponents of 2023.

The two teams will meet at the Aviva Stadium in a friendly on 22 March (kick-off: 7.45pm).

The game will serve as important preparation for Ireland’s European Championship qualification campaign.

Stephen Kenny’s side’s first qualifier will be at home to World Cup runners-up France on 27 March amid a two-game international window for the Boys in Greece, whose second qualifier will be away to Greece on 16 June.

Netherlands and Gibraltar will also be vying to secure one of the two automatic qualification spots in Group B.

Ticket details for the March international window will be clarified at a later date.

Formerly part of the Soviet Union and with an estimated population of a little under two million, Latvia finished fifth in the group in their most recent World Cup qualification campaign and are currently ranked 134th in the world — 85 places below Ireland.

Nearly all of their squad is based in Latvia and they’ve qualified once in their history for a major tournament — the 2004 Euros.

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