Delaney says FAI hopeful of more Euro tickets

FAI chief executive John Delaney has said he is “hopeful” additional tickets for the European Championship finals will become available for Irish supporters.

Speaking on the day the Association confirmed details of the team’s build-up to next summer’s tournament, Delaney said: “We’re expecting maybe 20,000 to 25,000 Irish people to travel and the one thing I’d be very strong on is that I want the supporters who followed us to the away games during the qualifying campaign to get first take.

“And I think that’s gone down well with those supporters who went to Armenia and Slovakia or Estonia or whatever.

“I’m hopeful we might get some extra tickets as we get nearer to the Euros. We’ve made representations. We’ve got 6,000 tickets per game and they’ll all go, I think everybody knows that.

But we’re going to try to secure some extra tickets because it’s in our interests and everybody’s interests to get as many Irish people into the three group games as possible to get behind the team.”

The Association have also announced what they are calling “celebration rates” for the friendly against the Czech Republic at the Aviva Stadium on February 29, meaning that adult tickets will be available for €20 and children’s tickets for €10. Season ticket holders will also be offered the chance to purchase three additional general admission tickets for the price of two for the game against the Czechs.

After that match, Ireland’s next friendly will be their farewell game at the Aviva against Bosnia on May 26, the day before the squad jets off to its pre-tournament training camp in Montecatini near Florence in Italy where they will be based from May 27 until June 3.

And the FAI boss said that he hoped reduced ticket prices would also be available for the game against the Bosnians.

“We’ll see how February goes and we hope to get a big crowd,” he said, “but I think any price for Bosnia wouldn’t be wildly different from the ones we’d charge for the Czech Republic game at the end of February.”

Apart from a warm-up game which is planned in Italy, possibly against Serie C opposition, one other friendly game was confirmed yesterday. That’s away to Hungary in Budapest on June 4 before Giovanni Trapattoni and his panel travel to their Euro 2012 base camp in Gydenia, Poland on June 5.

Meanwhile, the discounted tickets for the Czech Republic game on February 29 go on general sale from 9am this morning and are available from www.ticketmaster.ie.