Croke Park will not be used as one of the Euro 2028 stadiums if the joint Ireland & UK bid is successful.
But Casement Park in Belfast has been included on the list of 10 venues submitted to UEFA by today’s noon deadline, despite it lying in a derelict state.
Wembley, Cardiff’s National Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, City of Manchester Stadium, Everton’s new stadium, St James’ Park in Newcastle, Villa Park and Hampden Park in Glasgow, along with the Aviva Stadium, are the other confirmed grounds put forward.
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With an average stadium capacity of 58,000, UEFA claims ‘more fans than ever before will attend matches’ at the tournament, if successful in the race with Turkey.
UEFA will reveal the winning bid in September.
The absence of Croke Park is a surprise considering it had been included in the FAI’s preliminary bid dossier in November.
But UEFA’s decision to row back on increasing the Euro 2028 tournament to 32 teams from 24 is a factor and two stadia in one city is no longer needed.
Also, the prospect of trying to fill Croke Park for less glamorous group games - that Ireland may not be involved in - was another discussion point.
FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill said: "In all major bid processes, you start with a short list of stadia, and this is whittled down to a final agreed list in order to give the bid the best chance of success and reflects the streamlined nature of the tournament.
"This bid started with 14 Stadia, and we now have our agreed final 10 which have been submitted.
"The Bid, with the exemption of London, is based on a ‘one city, one stadia’ principle and together we believe the list offers an array of superb stadia from across the UK and Ireland."
Casement Park’s inclusion has caused a stir because a new stadium will have to be built from scratch, with latest estimates as high as £140 million.
The Belfast GAA ground was closed in 2013 with works thought to be imminent.
But the original concept for a 38,000 capacity ground had to be scaled down to 34,500 following local opposition.
In the meantime, the old ground remains untouched and in a derelict state.
51 matches will take place at Euro 2028 over a four-week period and, as of late 2022, the FAI was hoping to stage up to eight games.
That includes a quarter-final, having had to relinquish Euro 2020 group and Last 16 games due to Covid.
The joint Irish-UK bid is the clear favourite to host the finals ahead of Turkey, who are also chasing Euro 2032.
The Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales won’t all receive automatic places at the Euro 2028 finals.
UEFA reserved two host spots for previous European Championships and this will be considered again, with England front runners as the country staging the most games.
According to the five associations, the tournament will generate socio-economic benefits of up to €3 billion, €241 million of which will be earmarked for Ireland.
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