The Government may face a legal challenge from Sky TV to its decision to list Ireland's home and away European Football Championship qualifying games for transmission on free-to-air television.

The announcement was made last night after efforts failed to get the FAI to back away from its €7.5 million deal with Sky television to allow tonight's first home qualifier against Switzerland to be broadcast on terrestrial TV.

Only subscribers to Sky Sports will be able to see the game live.

The list of sporting events for free-to-air broadcasting was published by the Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, after Cabinet approved it yesterday. It includes all of Ireland's home and away qualifying games in European Football Championships and FIFA World Cups.

The Minister must get Oireachtas approval for the list before submitting it to the European Commission for formal approval under the terms of the EU Television Without Frontiers directive.

This procedure is expected to take three months and should be completed in time for Ireland's next home European Championship qualifying game against Albania next June 2003, the Minister said.

The Minister expressed his disappointment that tonight's game will not be available free-to-air. "I thought the FAI would have liked as many people as possible to see soccer in this country," he said.

He said advice from the Attorney General is that the list "will stick", and it was a matter for the FAI or anyone else to challenge the legislation.

An FAI source said last night that it would be up to Sky, which now holds the rights to the transmission of the games, to take legal action. While there was no comment from Sky, it is understood the broadcaster is taking legal advice on challenging the issue in court.

The list will be enshrined in law through the Broadcasting (Major Events Television Coverage) Act 1999, which gives power to implement the Television Without Frontiers directive.

One amendment provides for an arbitration mechanism to determine the fair market value for TV sports rights where there has been a breakdown in negotiations in relation to a designated event.

The Minister has placed the broadcasting of Ireland's Six Nations rugby games on a deferred broadcast list following talks with the IRFU.

He said the IRFU had difficulties with being listed on the live section because of contractual arrangements with the other Six Nations rugby boards.

"In addition, viewership for Six Nations rugby is traditionally significantly lower than that of home soccer games and major GAA matches."

The FAI said last night that its contract with Sky was binding and Sky now had ownership of the issue. They said it was vital that the FAI had money to invest in the game.

"Ninety per cent of our international games this year will not involve the senior team and that will cost us over €2 million," a spokesman said.

He said that artificially regulating a television market which is at present non-competitive will further reduce competition in the market for broadcast rights for events in Ireland and is not in the interests of the development of the game.