Northern Ireland v Switzerland 08SEPT

GOOD EVENING Welcome to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park for tonight’s vital FIFA World Cup qualifier against Switzerland.

It is wonderful tonight to think that we have a 16,000 sell out crowd. It’s not quite our full capacity but it’s the largest crowd we have had for almost two years due to the necessary restrictions placed on us by the Covid-19 pandemic. Having been able to host 13,000 spectators for the UEFA Super Cup last month, it is a step up again and, of course, everyone in the stadium is a Northern Ireland fan, with UEFA restricting access to away fans for the time being. Switzerland as an opponent need absolutely no introduction. Many of us will remember the 180 minutes we played back to back in Belfast and Basel as recently as 2017 when only a hotly disputed penalty gave our Swiss friends a ticket to the FIFA World Cup in Russia. As a team regularly in the top 15 of the FIFA world rankings, Ian and his squad will certainly be respectful of our visitors, however we need a positive result if we are to maintain our hopes of featuring in next year’s FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar. Our preparation for tonight’s match has been hampered by the unavailability of key players such as Jonny and Stuart but the squad will be on a high, having come back from a tricky trip to the Baltics with wins against Lithuania and Estonia in the last week. Hosting the UEFA Super Cup mentioned above was a tremendous honour for the Irish Football Association, and it was the perfect opportunity to showcase our stadium, Belfast and Northern Ireland to the world.

The game was televised live to more than 200 countries and the stadium had never looked better. UEFA’s and our own staff pulled out all the stops to ensure that the event ran without a hitch, and our visitors from Chelsea, Villarreal and UEFA itself all went away delighted with the experience. It was a vote of confidence in the redevelopment of our stadium and we hope we can now take forward similar projects around the country under the banner of the sub regional facilities strateg y which the Northern Ireland Executive has highlighted in its New Decade, New Approach document which presaged the Executive being reformed after a three-year hiatus. Northern Ireland has waited too long for better sporting facilities for our national game and now is the time for our politicians to act decisively. In the meantime, there are vital FIFA World Cup points at stake here in south Belfast this evening so let’s hope for a good game and an even better result .

PATRICK NELSON CHIEF EXECUT IVE IRISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIAT ION

IRISHFA.COM

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