SOCCER/Lansdowne Road development: Uefa chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson yesterday committed his organisation to hosting a major European club final in Dublin as soon as possible after the reconstruction of Lansdowne Road is completed.
Technically, the decision on which cities host such games is taken by Uefa's executive committee, but given Olsson's influence within the organisation, yesterday's comments were being taken as a firm indication that the new stadium would be awarded such a game if and when the FAI are finally in a position to make an official application.
Uefa are also hoping to award the finals of the under-21 European Championship to Ireland in the following year.
"If all goes well, Ireland should expect to host the Uefa Cup final in 2010 and most likely the under-21 finals in 2011," Olsson said.
Whether Lansdowne would get to host the Uefa Cup decider or even a Champions League final would in part depend on how highly European football's governing body rate the new stadium after it is completed. The organisation awards stars to grounds according to a detailed set of criteria and only five-star venues can be awarded Champions League deciders.
"Ireland showed last week with the Ryder Cup that it is capable of hosting the world's major sporting events," said FAI chief executive John Delaney, who along with European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Charlie McCreevy, met with Olsson at the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday.
"Bringing a Champions League or Uefa Cup final to Lansdowne Road will have a similar impact in terms of promoting the country around the world and represents an excellent dividend."
According to Olsson, Uefa envisages the under-21 finals as a joint venture between the FAI and the Irish Football Association (IFA),
"Basically you need four to five small to medium size stadiums and one very large one, so this would really have to be shared between the two associations," Olsson said.
If approved, it will be the first time that Ireland will host a major European soccer final or major tournament.
On paper the new Lansdowne Road should meet most of the specified criteria for hosting a major European club final - it will, for instance have precisely the minimum requirement of 50,000 seats - but in the event that it falls down in other areas such as access or facilities, it would still be in line to host a Uefa Cup final as a four-star venue.
The executive committee makes its decisions on venues every two years and is scheduled to award the games for the 2008 and 2009 seasons at its meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia at the start of next month when Seville, Moscow, Rome, London and Berlin (all boasting stadiums significantly larger than the proposed Lansdowne Road development) will be bidding for the two Champions League deciders while Hamburg, Manchester, Bucharest, Tel Aviv and Istanbul will be the contenders for the Uefa Cup deciders.
The venues for 2010 and 2011 are due to be decided in 2008 when, even assuming all goes well with An Bord Pleanála and Lansdowne Road's construction is going to schedule, it would only be half-built. It is likely, therefore, that the earliest an application could be submitted is 2010 when the FAI would be seeking to stage a final in either 2012 or 2013.
Nevertheless, yesterday's comments by Olsen were greeted with delight by Delaney who said that the opportunity to host such an event would be a wonderful reward for the investment made in the new stadium.
Work on redeveloping Lansdowne Road is set to begin in January with completion of the new 50,000-seater stadium expected by 2009.
"The stadium needs to be up and running for at least a year before we would give the go ahead, but at the moment it's all systems go," Olsson said.
During the rebuilding of Lansdowne Road, Ireland will play their Euro 2008 qualifying games at the 80,000-capacity Croke Park stadium.
"We know all about Croke Park and of course we would love to have a Champions League final there and with it now open, it is something we will consider," Olsson said.
