Northern Ireland v Norway

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

On behalf of the Irish Football Association it gives me great pleasure to welcome the players and officials of Norway to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast for this evening’s UEFA Nations League match.

The world has experienced significant change due to Covid-19 since our last series of international games in the autumn of 2019. Our lives have been adapting to changes to our routines and general habits, with everything being dictated by the health crisis. I take this opportunity to pay tribute, on behalf of all at the Irish Football Association, to every health professional at all levels of the NHS for their selfless commitment to the country throughout the past six months. Sport generally, and football in particular, has been working hard in its efforts to bring some normality back. FIFA and UEFA, together with the National Associations, have been providing the lead. Playing in an empty stadium, as we are doing tonight, is strange and everyone at the association looks forward to supporters being permitted back some time soon. I am sure many of our supporters will not only be watching the game on television but availing of the opportunity to peruse this souvenir match programme issued online. Ian Baraclough’s first game as National A Team Manager was in Bucharest on Friday and the team returned home from Romania with a deserved point from a 1-1 draw. The newmanager will no doubt be aiming to build on that result in his first home game in charge.

Tonight’s visitors Norway will be looking to get their League B Group 1 Nations League campaign up and running following their 2-1 home reverse to Austria, a game that was also played last Friday. We have played Norway nine times over the past 50 years with two wins each in competitive fixtures, while five friendlies were all won by Norway. Our most recent encounters were in the qualification stages for FIFA World Cup 2018 when each of us won our respective home games. It will, of course, be a special night for team captain Steven Davis as he earns his record-equalling 119th cap for Northern Ireland and draws level with Pat Jennings, who set the record during the 1986 FIFA World Cup final tournament in Mexico. The next scheduled game for Northern Ireland is, of course, the much awaited UEFA Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia next month, and I am sure the country is looking forward to it with great hopes for a final tie in November here in Belfast. Meanwhile, I hope both teams will provide us all with an exciting Nations League game tonight and that everyone tuning in will enjoy the occasion. David J Martin President Irish Football Association

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