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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
Sport
Paul O'Hehir & Alex Dunne

Ireland's glamour friendly with Belgium set to celebrate FAI's centenary

Ireland's glamour friendly with Belgium will celebrate the centenary of the FAI.

The March 26 game at the Aviva Stadium will kick off at 5pm, it was confirmed today.

And Stephen Kenny's Boys in Green have also lined up a home game with Lithuania at the Dublin on March 29, at 7:45pm.

Ticket details will be released later this month.

Ireland will also have two friendlies in November - one of them at home - against as yet unknown opposition.

Reports in the Belgian media claim Red Devils manager Roberto Martinez may experiment with his squad by only selecting players with 50 caps or fewer.

And Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku would be among the star names absent from the Dublin trip, if that is the case.

European champions Italy were lined up as the glamour friendly opponents in March but plans changed once they were landed with a World Cup playoff that month.

Belgium have instead accepted the offer as part of the FAI's centenary celebrations and Ireland have not played them since their 3-0 defeat in the group stages of the Euro 2016 finals.

The March friendlies are warm-up games for June when Ireland play four Nations League games in 10 days.

Kenny’s team hosts Ukraine on June 4 before facing Armenia away on June 7.

The Boys in Green return to host Scotland on June 11 before an away clash with Ukraine on June 14.

But that trip to Ukraine could yet be moved to a neutral venue if the political tension between Ukraine and Russia escalates.

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