Northern Ireland v Bulgaria

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

On behalf of the Irish Football Association it gives me great pleasure to welcome the players and officials of Bulgaria to Northern Ireland’s National Football Stadium in Belfast for tonight’s FIFA World Cup 2022 European Group C qualification game.

The pathway to one qualification and two play-off finals in the last three campaigns was built around consistent home performances and, following on from defeat to Italy in Parma last Thursday, Northern Ireland will be looking to get points on the board in this their first home game in the group. With Lithuania up next in early September followed by Switzerland home and away, there is a great opportunity tonight to put in place a good foundation with a winning performance. A mandatory friendly international against the USA provided an opportunity for most of the squad to have some game time in what is a tough schedule of three matches in seven days, especially for the small nations. Although the USA claimed victory by two goals to one there were positives for the management team to take from the game. Bulgaria began the group with defeats at home to first Switzerland and then Italy so will arrive in Belfast looking to make an impression on the Group C table. It has been 20 years since Northern Ireland and Bulgaria last met in a competitive fixture, although there was a friendly match at Windsor Park in 2008. Two games in 2001 were FIFA World Cup 2002 qualifiers and Bulgaria won both so we have to go back more than 40 years to the qualifying games for the European Championships of 1980 for a Northern Ireland win. In fact there were two victories for Northern Ireland in that campaign and they came just before we embarked on six successful years including qualification for two World Cup final tournaments. A year on from the Covid-19 outbreak changing the way in which we all have to do things, it is great credit

to football that it has prevailed at the elite level among the UEFA nations despite the restrictions placed upon the administrators. At what is the end of this winter of internationals, a pandemic-restricted year, I take this opportunity to thank everyone - players, management, technical staff and administration staff - who have met all Covid protocol requirements so professionally and with great patience. I look forward to a time when stadiums will again have spectators and bring back the atmosphere we have all taken for granted in the past. It will be fantastic when we get back to a full house at some point. Our captain Steven Davis will break the international caps record for a British player tonight and it gives me great pleasure to congratulate him on this marvellous achievement. Steven’s consistency throughout his international career has been magnificent and he started almost all of his 125 senior games for Northern Ireland to date. I hope that tonight’s qualifier is an exciting game of football and played in a good spirit of fair play by both sides. Whether you are reading this match programme online or in normal print format thanks for supporting the editorial teamwho have produced it.

Enjoy the game. David J Martin President Irish Football Association

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