Ireland can’t use Aviva for friendlies

The cash-strapped FAI are facing a 10-month gap without a money-spinning match at the Aviva Stadium.

UEFA have confirmed the venue — one of 12 stadia hosting Euro 2020 finals fixtures — will be unavailable to the FAI for any warm-up friendlies.

Whether or not Mick McCarthy guides Ireland through the pair of play-offs in March, the team’s summer friendlies will have to be staged at alternative venues.

That means the Boys in Green could be having their final workouts in early June at Thomond Park or RDS.

Those grounds were used by the FAI in 2009 and 2010 respectively while Lansdowne Road was being rebuilt.

The FAI is badly in need of cash as it plots a route from the brink of insolvency.

Current liabilities of around €70m and last year’s loss of almost €9m underscore the importance of generating revenue.

The last match staged at Lansdowne was the concluding Euro qualifier against Denmark in November, when a draw plunged Ireland into the play-offs.

Should they beat Slovakia on March 26, a qualification decider against Bosnia Herzegovina or Northern Ireland beckons three days later. Both ties will be away from home.

McCarthy’s outfit would, if they reach the showpiece, meet Poland on June 15 and Sweden on June 19, both in Dublin, before facing Spain in Bilbao five days later.

Unlike matches it normally hosts, the FAI don’t receive any gate money for the tournament matches.

Their coffers in previous finals years has generally been boosted by farewell friendlies.

Ahead of the 2012 Euros, 37,100 fans turned up to see the team off against Bosnia Herzegovina while the FAI arranged four friendlies in the run-up to Euro 2016. A bumper attendance of 42,438 watched the match against the Netherlands.

In contrast, Thomond Park holds just 25,500 and the RDS 16,500. Either choice would require a hefty rental fee too.

The FAI’s first game of 2020 at the Aviva Stadium would be a Uefa Nations League fixture in September.

By that stage, or earlier, depending on Euro qualification, U21 boss Stephen Kenny will have taken charge.

Ireland are due to discover their Nations League opposition on March 3 when the draw is made in Amsterdam.

As a nation ranked in League B, Pot 2, they will be in a four-nation group, facing three countries home and away between September and November.

Ireland will meet one from pot one (Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic), pot two (Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland) and pot four (Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary and Romania).