Northern Ireland v Bosnia

GOOD AFTERNOON

Welcome to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park for an historic event - our first ever game in the new UEFA Nations League.

The UEFA Nations League is designed to give countries more competitive games by reducing the number of international dates available for friendlies - and has two strong selling points. Firstly, it matches together countries who are roughly at the same standard, so all games should be close and competitive. Secondly, it offers an alternative route to qualify for UEFA Euro 2020 should we not make it through the normal route of the European Qualifiers, which will themselves take place throughout 2019. So the new competition starts here, and our first opponents are Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today will be the first time we have played against this country and we welcome them to Belfast. One thing you will see today but perhaps not notice is that over the summer we have invested around £125,000 in adding a carpet of fibres to the stadium pitch to give it more durability. More than 7000 square metres of fibre carpet was laid on the pitch before we covered the surface with sand and grass seed to grow this season’s new pitch. All in all the pitch is now 95% natural grass and 5% fibre, and we hope that this new mix will allow the pitch to stand up to the rigours of a Northern Ireland winter and the amount of usage we expect from it. Investing in our new stadium will be a never-ending process as we want to make this stadium the best it can be.

Talking of the best, we were delighted and very proud to be able to transform our National Football Stadium into a boxing arena last month for the Carl Frampton boxing bill. It had been Carl’s desire to perform here for a long time and his dream turned into a tremendous occasion for all present. Lots of work from multiple partners went in to the transformation of the stadium and more than 22,000 spectators packed in on the night to see Carl do what he does best. For us, as well as providing an unforgettable evening of entertainment, it proved the concept that the stadium can be used for significant non-football events so we hope it will be the first of many such occasions. Finally, in case you haven’t got your ticket yet, or you know someone who wants to come here and watch Northern Ireland play but doesn’t think they can obtain a ticket, we are not yet sold out for the friendly match against Israel on Tuesday night. Due to the nature of international football our senior men’s team only get to play in Belfast on a few occasions each year, and we all know that Michael, Steven and the squad get a great lift from the atmosphere generated by the GAWA, so if you can make it please head to ticketmaster.ie and book your seat. Enjoy the match today.

Patrick Nelson Chief Executive Irish Football Association

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