Ireland's path to Euro 2028 set to be become clearer after Europa League Final
The UEFA delegate will decide if Ireland automatically qualify based on co-hosting the tournament in 2028
Republic of Ireland's future for the Euro 2028 is set to be made clearer following the Europa League Final between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur next Wednesday night.
A meeting between UEFA executives are set to meet in Bilboa to discuss what is going to happen with the host nations and automatic qualification slots.
Ireland will co-host the competition along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Northern Ireland has missed out on being a host nation for the Euros after it was revealed last year that the UK government would not provide funding to redevelop Casement Park in Belfast in time for the tournament.
Last year, FAI Chief Executive, David Courell, last year said about the automatic qualification:
"I won’t go into the details of it, but what I will say is that we are very confident that we will feature in Euro 2028.
We are having conversations with Uefa but the working assumption is all of us will go through qualification and if we are unsuccessful in qualifying on merit, then there will be automatic slots in reserve but that has yet to be ratified by Uefa.
We will have the benefit of a highly increased likelihood of qualifying if we don’t go through on merit."
We will know more on next week and if Ireland will have to go through the grueling qualifiers that Ireland haven't successfully got through since Euro 2016, when Martin O'Neil and Roy Keane led the Boys in Green not only to the competition but out of the group, eventually losing out to host nation France in the last 16.