Dublin's staging of the Europa League final in 2011 and its expanded airport are amongst the chief reasons FAI chief executive John Delaney believes their Euro 2020 hosting bid can succeed.
Uefa’s deadline for applications comes on April 25th, after which 39 cities will battle it out to be chosen in September as one of 13 to host the new-look tournament.
Delaney, speaking yesterday on a visit to the Tiglin Rehab Centre in the Wicklow mountains, reasoned that, with Wembley guaranteed to be successful bidder, Dublin’s main rivals could be close to home.
“Our opposition may well be Scotland, Cardiff or Amsterdam,” he explained.
"Thirteen cities may sound a lot but when you actually take the ones that are going to get it automatically, it reduces the number available.
Wembley
"Turkey might get the semi-finals and final. Spain or Portugal will get something and I'm sure Wembley will too.
“Hosting the Europa League final in 2011 is a huge help to us.
“The fact that we hosted it – that was the time the Queen visited as well – and it went off without incident, that is certainly a positive.
“The stadium is marked up as a certain percentage of the overall figure. You can have a great stadium but you need to have good infrastructure. The second terminal [Dublin airport] is a big plus because you can segregate the fans coming through.”
Meanwhile, despite admitting he hasn't discussed it directly with the Republic of Ireland assistant manager himself, Delaney believes Roy Keane's upcoming autobiography won't act as a distraction to the team's European Championship qualifiers which kick off in September, just before the book's launch.
'It is the past'
"I haven't discussed the book with Roy," said Delaney. "Martin [O'Neill] mentioned it to me alright, but it's about the past. We've all said things in the past, there were mistakes made in the past but it is the past.
“If there was stuff about the FAI in the past, I think he is entitled to write that if that’s what he wants to do.”
After O’Neill and Keane’s next assignment on March 5th against Serbia, Delaney confirmed their next warm-up opposition as Turkey, also in Dublin, on May 25th.
Italy are penciled in for a friendly six days later, with at least one more game planned in the United States.
“We are pretty sure of one game in New York on June 10th,” he said. “We are just looking to see if we can get a second match.”
