IRELAND LOOK SET to play their Euro 2020 play-off semi-final at the Tehelne Pole stadium in Bratislava.
Mick McCarthy’s men must defeat Slovakia on 26 March before facing the winner of Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina away five days later for a place at next summer’s finals.
Slovakia played their home matches at the 19,200-capacity Anton Malatinsky Stadium in Trnava during this campaign, but the FAI has revealed that the Tehelne Pole stadium in Bratislava, which holds 22,500, is most likely to host the Boys in Green.
The Slovakian FA must confirm the venue by 20 December.
“Slovakia have intimated the game will take place in Bratislava but they have some final checks to make on the ground there before they can confirm it as the venue,” said an FAI spokesman.
“We have also opened talks with them on the allocation of tickets and will update our fans as soon as we can. We are guaranteed 5% of the tickets but we are negotiating for more.
“Tickets will be allocated to supporters based on away attendance records from the last two campaigns. We will announce the application process as soon as we know our allocation.”
McCarthy and a team of officials from the FAI travelled to Nyon in Switzerland for this morning’s draw, where the Ireland manager met Slovakian boss Pavel Hapal.
“The only game that matters to us now is Slovakia,” said McCarthy, who insists he is not looking beyond the first obstacle.
If we win the first game against Slovakia then I will fancy our chances anywhere else. We will have our analysis done on all three teams but our focus is on Slovakia first and getting ready for them in the New Year.
“We know what we have to do, we have to go there and win the game. Home advantage is just that but if we play as well as we did against Denmark then I will settle for that. We set the bar high on Monday night and that is the standard we will have to play at to win two games.”
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