The soon-to-be redeveloped Lansdowne Road stadium has been pencilled in to host a major European soccer final, most probably the Uefa Cup showpiece in 2010. But construction on the Dublin venue must run to schedule in order for this to happen.
Uefa made the announcement in Strasbourg today following a meeting between the organisation's chief executive, Lars-Christer Olsson, and his FAI counterpart, John Delaney.
Olsson said: "If all goes well, Ireland should expect to host the Uefa Cup final in 2010 and most likely the under-21 finals in 2011."
"This is marvellous news," Delaney said. "Ireland showed last week with the Ryder Cup that it is capable of hosting the world's major sporting events, and bringing a Champions League or UEFA Cup Final to Lansdowne Road will have a similar impact in terms of promoting the country around the world."
The redevelopment of Lansdowne into a 50,000 all-seater stadium at a cost of €300 million will, of course, not be completed before the end of 2008, the target date when the project was originally given the green light. But the FAI insists the development is on schedule for a 2009 finish with construction due to start next year.
Planning permission received recently is still the subject of an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing but should that final hurdle be met then, conceivably, a high-profile final in 2010 could then be staged.
Today's announcement gives the association impetus to have the stadium built on time, Delaney said.
But Uefa would still have to send a team of inspectors to the new stadium on its completion to compile a report of the facility. Those inspectors would then have to report their detailed findings to Uefa's executive committee, a process that takes a considerable amount of time.
Should the construction run over time, such a report would not get returned to committee members in time to confirm - in advance - that all is ready to host such a lucrative match in 2010.
"The stadium needs to be up and running for at least a year before we would give the go ahead, but at the moment it's all systems go," Olsson said.
Only stadia with five-star gradings are permitted to host Champions League finals, while the Uefa Cup final can be staged at venues with either five or four star grades.
Reports that Ireland will host the entire under-21 European Championship finals in 2011 - the final of which would be staged at Lansdowne Road - appear to be slightly wide of the mark.
The FAI must yet consider full implications of such a move, but Uefa are appearing to urge the association to at least consider the prospect.
Uefa envisage a joint venture between the FAI and the Irish Football Association in Belfast.
"Basically you need four to five small to medium size stadiums and one very large one, so this would really have to be shared between the two associations," Olsson said.
Irish MEP Eoin Ryan conducted a report into the future of European football for the economic committee of the European Parliament and also attended today's meeting in Strasbourg.
He welcomed the commitment given by Uefa to Irish football and said the announcement was "good news for the international image of Ireland as a key country that can regularly host important international sporting events".
Labour Party spokesman on sport Jack Wall said the announcement is a boost for the Irish public and should act as a stimulus for the project to be completed on time.
"Given the original ten-year delay in reaching a decision on the new national stadium, and the planning setbacks that the new stadium has experienced to date, I hope we will not be forced into an embarrassing climb-down and that the new stadium will be complete by the 2010 date," Wall said.
