The date for the Northern Ireland men’s senior team’s semi-final play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina for the rescheduled UEFA Euro 2020 tournament has been announced by UEFA, as part of a wide ranging update to its 55 member associations today.
The rescheduled fixture is now set to take place in Zenica on Thursday October 8 2020.
The match was originally due to take place on March 26 but rescheduled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A revised date of June 4 was also postponed due to the outbreak but now the European governing body has confirmed October’s date subject to approval from the relevant government and health authorities.
Matches are currently scheduled to be played behind closed doors and this is subject to regular review by UEFA.
Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson said; “I am delighted that UEFA, subject to the relevant approvals, have agreed this date for our play-off semi-final and we’ll be doing all we can to ensure we’re competing at the rescheduled tournament next summer.”
UEFA Nations League fixtures for Northern Ireland’s League B Group 1 campaign which features Austria, Norway and Romania will also see some alterations.
At this point the fixtures in September where Northern Ireland are scheduled to face Romania away on Friday 4 September and Norway at home on Monday 7 September, remain in place.
Due to the revised play off date, the Nations League fixtures in October have been rescheduled. The home game against Austria will now be played on Sunday 11 October whilst the away fixture in Norway will be played on Wednesday 14 October.
Should Northern Ireland beat Bosnia in the play-offs, the final will be hosted at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park on Thursday 12 November against either Slovakia or the Republic of Ireland. A defeat to the Bosnians would result in a home friendly on either Wednesday 11 or Thursday 12 November.
This means November’s round of Nations League games are now scheduled for Sunday 15 November against Austria away while the final fixture of the campaign is a home tie against Romania on Wednesday 18 November.
The venues for Northern Ireland’s three away games in the second edition of the UEFA Nations League are still to be confirmed.
The 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship scheduled to take place in Northern Ireland this summer will now kick off in October.
The Elite Round, originally scheduled for March of this year, will now take place between 31 August to 8 September in still to be confirmed venues across Europe. The final tournament will be split over two periods; a group stage featuring two groups of four teams which will be held between 8 to 14 October in Northern Ireland.
The two group-winners and the two runners-up will qualify for the finals, whereas the two third-placed teams will participate in a play-off match to determine the fifth team qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. All such final matches will be played in venues across Northern Ireland between 09 to 18 November.
UEFA has also confirmed that the preliminary round for the Women’s Futsal EURO 2022 will be played between 4 and 9 May 2021; the main round between 19 and 24 October 2021; the finals between 24 to 27 March 2022. This means the Northern Ireland team will travel to Lithuania to compete in qualifiers next May.
Finally, the UEFA Super Cup 2021 is still scheduled to take place at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park next year.
