Northern Ireland v Germany, Thurs 5th October

PRESIDENT’S

WELCOME

On behalf of the Irish Football Association it gives me great pleasure to welcome the officials, players and supporters of Germany to our National Football Stadium in Belfast for this evening's FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Group C qualifying match.

It is huge to have the world champions and number one international team on the planet visit Northern Ireland. Game nine in the group brings both countries to what is the 'qualification weekend' and it will be an exciting few days throughout Europe with most of the groups still undecided. Germany, with maximum points from the games played, are looking to seal qualification this evening but the Northern Ireland home record is impressive and we will hope to take our visitors into the final series of games on Sunday. The two most recent of our 16 internationals against Germany were in 2016, a 1-0 defeat in Paris during Euro 2016 and a 2-0 defeat in Hannover last October at the beginning of this World Cup qualifying campaign. More than 30 years have passed since our home and away Euro 1984 qualifying group wins over West Germany, both by a 1-0 scoreline.

Our last fixture, a 2-0 defeat of Czech Republic here in Belfast last month, ensured second place in Group C with two games to play. Our final group match is against Norway in Oslo on Sunday and the target of cementing a November play-off place is well within the players' grasp. This final home group game will again see the National Football Stadium at capacity, as it was for the previous four, such is the interest in the national team and their performances. The support has been magnificent throughout the campaign and has created a fantastic atmosphere inside the stadium, more of which we look forward to this evening. I hope you all enjoy another exciting game and have a safe journey home. David J Martin President Irish Football Association

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