LAST UPDATE | 21 Jun 2022
IRELAND WILL MEET Israel for a place at next year’s Uefa European U21 Championship.
The Boys in Green finished runners-up in their qualifying group behind winners Italy, while Israel were second to Germany.
Jim Crawford’s side are aiming to qualify for the finals for the first time in their history.
A two-legged tie will take place between 19-27 September – exact dates are yet to be confirmed – and Ireland have home advantage for the first leg.
The tournament will then be hosted by Romania and Georgia in June and July 2023.
“Israel will be a tough opponent, there’s no mistaking that,” said Crawford. “They finished above Poland and Hungary in their group, who are very good teams at this level, and they also lost narrowly to the group winners Germany in each of their games.
“They had five players called up to their senior team during this campaign which shows how well they have done.
The talk from other countries in Nyon before the draw was that Ireland were the preferable opponent to be drawn against – that in itself is motivation for us.
“We’re at home first and we want a big crowd there to support us because we can’t lose sight of the challenge Israel will pose and the crowd will play their part.”
