FAI block move by group rivals

Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI general secretary, said yesterday that the association has received assurances from FIFA that an attempt by Portugal and Andorra to play both of their World Cup qualifying matches in Lisbon would not be permitted.

The two associations have had talks about such an arrangement over the past couple of months but, having heard about the proposal last week, the FAI immediately approached FIFA to seek clarification on the matter.

"I talked to the FIFA's competitions people last week and they assured me that it's the sort of thing that would only be permitted in `extreme circumstances'." So extreme, in fact, that they couldn't think of any circumstances that might fit the bill.

"Now we're going to play Andorra in Barcelona (the game will almost certainly be staged in the Olympic Stadium) which I think is acceptable given their (Andorra's) circumstances, but I think that it's important to send out a message here. We have to make it clear that there is absolutely no way that we accept a deal such as this being done."

While FIFA had confirmed that an informal approach had been made to obtain an official sanction for such an arrangement, O'Byrne said: "When we heard about it originally we were led to believe that the proposal was much firmer. It seems that there has been a bit of rowing back done since then. It's something that we'll have to keep our eye on.