Northern Ireland vs Switzerland (21/03/2025)

GOOD EVENING Time flies, doesn’t it? It only seems like yesterday that we were clearing away the Christmas wrapping paper and finishing the turkey sandwiches.

Now most of us are waking up to light mornings, the evenings are starting to stretch out, and it’s already time for the first senior men’s international window of the year. Tonight we welcome our supporters back to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park for an international challenge match against Switzerland. Our opponents this evening are regulars at major tournament finals, as are Sweden who we travel to play on Tuesday night in Stockholm. Our June window will be as equally challenging in that we will have an away match against an as yet unnamed top nation (this will depend on the outcome of the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals which take place in this window) and then play Iceland at home. These are exactly the types of opposition Michael wants to face to prepare for our short and sharp FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification campaign which will take place in the autumn. If we are to make it to be part of the world’s greatest show in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer, these are the sort of countries we need to be able to match and beat, so let’s see how we fare. For the first time in a number of years we have genuine grounds for optimism in relation to our senior men’s national team. The youth and exuberance of our squad last year was a sight to behold as we surged to win our UEFA Nations League group and we hope this will continue into this year and, of course, in 2026. Whilst winning and losing is part of football and Kipling tells us that we should meet the twin imposters of triumph and disaster in the same

way, it is undoubted that we all have a spring in our step the day and indeed week and month after a good win. The grass seems greener, the sky a better shade of blue, and our smiles find their way to our face more readily. Sport, and football in particular, makes all of our lives better and tonight gives us the chance to set out our intentions for the year. Switzerland have visited Belfast twice in the last decade and although we haven’t won either of these matches (let’s not mention the 2017 penalty kick shall we?!) they have been even and well fought games. On a related note I would like to congratulate our Under-21 men’s manager Tommy Wright on his contract extension. Tommy joined us in August 2023 and is a vital part of the pipeline of talent management which stretches from Andy Waterworth to Gareth McAuley to Tommy and on to Michael as the senior men’s manager. Many of the players that have been nurtured in Tommy’s squads have made it through to the senior ranks and will be available for selection this evening. International players don’t just arrive on the doorstep fully formed. Their training and preparation can take several years and Tommy’s work is vital to this process. Let’s all enjoy the match tonight.

PATRICK NELSON CHIEF EXECUTIVE IRISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

IRISHFA.COM

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