SOCCER INTERNATIONAL NEWSWITH THE Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying game against Georgia now just 10 days away there is still no decision from Fifa on where the fixture will be played, the German club Karlsruhe having ruled out their stadium as a neutral venue for the game.
Fifa had requested the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) to nominate an alternative venue to Tbilisi, in light of concerns about security issues as a result of the conflict between Russia and Georgia, and while the GFF remained hopeful that the governing body would give the go-ahead for the game to be played in the country's capital, they nominated Karlsruhe.
Yesterday, however, with Fifa meeting to discuss the situation, Karlsruhe announced that their stadium, with just half of its 29,699 capacity seated, was "not worthy of the event".
"The World Cup qualifying match between Georgia and the Republic of Ireland will not take place at the Wildparkstadion on September 6th," said the club's sporting director Rolf Dohmen.
"This is the result of discussions between Karlsruhe SC and the Georgian Football Federation, who would gladly have played the match here. We would gladly have accommodated them but due to the short notice and organisational issues we, unfortunately, have asked the GFF to look for another venue."
On Tuesday a GFF spokesman indicated that Karlsruhe had agreed to host the match, hence the federation's decision to nominate the stadium as their alternative venue, claiming that the club's Georgian forward Aleksandre Iashvili had assisted in negotiations.
"The reason we wanted to help was because of our player Iashvili," said Karlsruhe, "we wanted to make this possible for him, but ultimately we had to decide against agreeing to the match."
Seemingly, however, the GFF had not been given the go-ahead by Karlsruhe, making their decision to put the venue to Fifa somewhat puzzling. Several news agencies reported yesterday morning that Karlsruhe had been decided upon as the host for the game, prompting one low-cost airline to treble the regular price of its fares to Karlsruhe-Baden - flying out from Dublin on the Friday before the game and returning on the Sunday would have cost €400.
"At close of business today Fifa has made no decision in relation to the venue for the Group Eight World Cup Qualifier between Georgia and Republic of Ireland on September 6th. We remind fans that Fifa is the only authority who will make a decision on this fixture," was all the FAI had to say on the matter yesterday.
Fifa must now decide whether the game should go ahead in Tbilisi, if there is enough time to move it to a neutral venue - the GFF had also considered Krakow (Poland) and Graz (Austria) as options, while another German city might also be considered - or if it should now be postponed.
The decision may be complicated by the possibility of Group Eight rivals - Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Montenegro - insisting that they, like Ireland, should be allowed play Georgia in a neutral venue should that be Fifa's decision on the September 6th match.
FAI chief executive John Delaney said on Tuesday the association would accept whatever decision Fifa made on the issue but stressed it was his hope the game would be played at a neutral venue, adding that "issues around the insurance of players and everything that goes with that" would be a concern.
