Tickets for the home leg of Ireland’s European Championship play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina will go on public sale next Tuesday the 27th, according to the FAI which says that it is awaiting details on how many tickets it will get for the away leg.

The Bosnians have until Sunday to confirm a venue for the game but with the larger Sarajevo stadium in need of major renovation and the federation having staged every group game in Zenica, some 70 kilometres from the capital, the match is widely expected to be there.

The Bilino Polje stadium is widely reported to hold 15,000 but the club that plays there puts the capacity for international games at 13,632 while the largest crowd at any of the qualifiers appears to have been just over 12,000 which seems to have been the capacity imposed by the federation. That would put the five per cent of seats that the FAI is entitled to at between 600 and 750.

The association says that it has requested 10 per cent of the seats, as it is entitled to do, but acknowledges that it is entirely at the discretion of the host federation as to whether the extra allocation is provided and it seems unlikely in this instance.

The FAI says that when it knows what its allocation is it will distribute them on the basis of a recently adopted system that provides for its own council and board, associated leagues and clubs as well as premium seat customers getting 55 per cent between them with 30 per cent divided up amongst season ticket holders supporters’ clubs and fans with a track record of travelling to away games. The remainder goes to the association’s travel partner, Abbey Travel.

The independent supporters’ group You Boys In Green has criticised the distribution of tickets and called for those who have travelled to all of Ireland’s games in recent years to be guaranteed tickets.