Belgrade is now almost certain to be confirmed as the venue for the Republic of Ireland's crucial European Championship game against Yugoslavia on November 18th.

It follows yesterday's ruling by UEFA's club competition committee that the European Cup Winners' Cup fixture between FK Partizan and Lazio should go ahead as scheduled in the Yugoslav capital next Thursday.

That decision was governed by NATO statements that they are satisfied with the first phase of the withdrawal of Serbian troops from the Kosovo region after their deadline for retaliatory strikes had expired on Tuesday.

Although NATO forces remain on alert in the area, a spokesman for UEFA said they were sufficiently encouraged by the new situation to permit the club game to go ahead as arranged.

"Because of recent developments between NATO and the Yugoslav government, we believe that the security situation in Belgrade is now stable enough to allow the game to go ahead," he said.

"But we have decided to wait until next week before making final arrangements for the two European Championship games between Albania and Greece in Group Two and Yugoslavia and the Republic of Ireland in Group Eight.

"Our first priority was to restore normality and allow Lazio's game to take place as planned on November 5th. If that fixture can be held without problems in the Red Star stadium, there is no reason why Ireland's game should be moved out of Belgrade."

With the threat of military intervention relaxed, the only factor which could put the international match in doubt would be a backlash against Italian supporters in the stadium next Thursday. UEFA, it seems, were sufficiently reassured on this point by the Yugoslav Football Federation to reach yesterday's verdict without undue apprehension.

The FAI will be disappointed that the European body has not acceded to its request for a ruling on the venue not later than tomorrow. This, they contend, is the logical cut-off point to enable arrangements to be put in place for the game.

Those sentiments are echoed by the travel trade who say that a time frame of less than a fortnight is too tight to enable them to plan for the transportation of large numbers of Irish supporters to the match.

They had shared the hope of many that in the event of the fixture being removed from Belgrade to a neutral venue, it would be staged in a more accessible city such as Rome or Milan.

Mick McCarthy, however, is happy that it will be played on November 18th and has few reservations about taking his players to Belgrade.

"If the security authorities say that it is safe to play there, then I'm happy to go with that advice," he said. "I think it was always on the cards that if the NATO threat was postponed, UEFA would go for Belgrade rather than create an even playing field for other teams in the group.

"The thing that pleases me most, however, is that we will have a game on November 18th. After winning against Croatia and Malta, we are now on a bit of a roll and the last thing we wanted was to have the match postponed until the new year.

"It's still going to be a tough game, but this has been a fact of life for us, ever since the draw was made. The encouraging point is that it will now take place at a time when the confidence of our players is high."