Northern Ireland will not qualify for automatic Euro 2028 slot

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Northern Ireland is not eligible for the back-door route to qualification for Euro 2028 after Casement Park was ruled out as a venue, it is understood.

In September, the UK Government torpedoed hopes that the currently derelict west Belfast venue would host games in Euro 2028 when it announced that it would not bridge a funding gap to deliver the redevelopment in time.

It said the risk to the public purse of missing the tournament deadline was too high.

Tentative proposals were put forward that other venues in the Republic of Ireland or the UK could be used instead.

However, it is now understood that Uefa is hoping to proceed by increasing the games played across the other nine venues – and not adding another stadium.

Last week, it was reported that the cost of developing Casement Park has dropped to £270 million, after the design was modified when plans to host Euro 2028 games there were abandoned.

The Stormont Executive committed £62.5 million in 2011 to the Casement project.

The Irish Government has offered roughly £42 million and said this funding remains in place even without the stadium being built for the Euros.

The GAA has pledged to contribute £15 million.

With the reported revised cost of £270 million, this still leaves a funding shortfall of about £150 million.