Versailles confirmed as Republic of Ireland's Euro 16 base

The FAI have officially confirmed Ireland will be based in the historic city of Versailles for next year’s European Championship finals in France.

“The facilities and accommodation in Versailles are second to none, and will cater for every need of the team, management and backroom staff,” said CEO John Delaney.

“I visited the area with Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane, and both are impressed and looking forward to being based there.”

The Irish party will stay at a luxury woodland retreat — the Uefa-approved Trianon Palace Hotel — which is close to the celebrated Palace of Versailles, while training will take place at the 6,000-capacity Stade de Montbauron, home to local club AFC Versailles.

The centrally located ground has been fully refurbished on several occasions and — Keane was doubtless particularly pleased to learn — the pitch is “kept in excellent condition by the local authorities,” according to an official Uefa tournament guide.

Encircled by an eight-lane running track, it is situated next to a swimming pool and an indoor sports complex comprising spacious gyms.

It is expected Ireland will host one public training session at the venue for locals and supporters at the beginning of their stay in the city.

Versailles is 20 kilometres from Paris, where Ireland play their opening game of the Euro finals against Sweden at the Stade de France on June 13, before further Group E matches in Bordeaux and Lille against Belgium and Italy.

Speaking on the RTÉ Sport podcast ‘The Panel’, former Ireland manager Brian Kerr revealed he was impressed by the Versailles training ground and considered it as a base for his team when they played France in Paris in a World Cup qualifier in 2004.

However, for the purposes of a one-off game, he felt it was too far from the capital.

“I went and had a look at the Versailles training ground before we played France and remember saying, ‘this is lovely, this is nice’, but it was too far outside Paris for me,” said Kerr. “I didn’t want us to spend a lot of time going from the hotel to the training ground or to the stadium itself on the match night, so I knocked it on the head.”

Meanwhile, it is expected Irish fans will dominate Stade de France for their Euro opener against Sweden on June 13 despite Uefa only allocating 15,000 tickets for the FAI.

The French national stadium is the highest-capacity venue at the showpiece, with 81,338 seats, and the European governing body have made available through their online portal the standard 16% each to both Ireland and Sweden supporters.

That system of applications closes on January 18, after which the FAI have opted to “manage the distribution of tickets in order to ensure the most loyal Irish supporters are catered for first”.

In addition to that 13,000 allocation, a further 2,000 tickets will be go to the FAI as a participating nation in the finals.

Tickets for Ireland’s second and third games against Belgium and Italy will be far more difficult to obtain.

Of the 42,115-capacity arena in Bordeaux, which stages Ireland’s meeting with the world’s top-ranked side, a mere 6,000 are ring-fenced to the Green Army with just 7,000 on offer for the meeting against the Italians in Lille, a venue holding 50,186.

The FAI’s decision to apply the same criteria as they did for the play-off game in Bosnia-Herzegovina last month may again irk fans group “You Boys in Green”.

That pilot scheme entailed 55% of tickets being dispersed to supporters from affiliated football Leagues (more than 2,000 clubs), FAI board and national council members, players/staff, Club Ireland members, and Jack Charlton Lounge patrons.

Another 30% are allocated to independent supporters who are members of Ireland Soccer Supporter Clubs and Fans’ Direct, with the FAI’s official travel partner, Abbey Travel, taking up the remaining 15% for supporters travelling on their packages.

Successful applicants through the Uefa portal will be informed in February.