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Ireland's Euro 2020 playoff with Slovakia gets green light for October

The Republic of Ireland's Euro 2020 playoff semi-final with Slovakia has been confirmed for Octob...



Ireland's Euro 2020 playoff wi...
Soccer

Ireland's Euro 2020 playoff with Slovakia gets green light for October

The Republic of Ireland's Euro 2020 playoff semi-final with Slovakia has been confirmed for October 8. 

The game had originally been scheduled for Bratislava on March 26 but fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

The playoff final against either Northern Ireland or Bosnia-Herzegovina will be played on November 12.

UEFA confirmed its international calendar at a meeting of its Executive Committee in Nyon on Wednesday.

Next summer's European Championships will retain the same match schedule as originally planned, with Dublin's Aviva Stadium still hosting four games.

The original dates for the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League remain the same.

That means Stephen Kenny's first game in charge of the Republic of Ireland senior side will be away to Bulgaria on Thursday September 3.

Kenny's first home game will come with the visit of Finland to the Aviva Stadium on September 6.

Under the revised UEFA schedule, Ireland are likely to face a Nations League trip to Helsinki five-days after their Euro 2020 playoff in Slovakia.

The November 13 trip to Wales will need re-arranging should Kenny's side reach the Euro 2020 playoff final.

The changes to the international calendar come in the same day as UEFA parcelled off the Champions League and Europa League to Lisbon and Germany.

Meanwhile, qualification for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship will resume in September and conclude in November of this year.

The Republic of Ireland currently sit top of Group I, and will have games with Iceland (Tallaght Stadium), Luxembourg (away) and Italy (away) still to play.

In a change to the competition format, the nine group-winners and the five best runners-up will be joined by hosts Hungary and Slovenia for a group stage of four groups of four from 24 to 31 March 2021, with groups hosted by Hungary and by Slovenia.

The four group-winners and the four runners-up will then qualify for the final tournament which will be played as a straight knock-out final eight (quarter-finals and semi-finals in Hungary and Slovenia and the final in Ljubljana) from 31 May to 6 June 2021.

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Euro 2020 Republic Of Ireland Slovakia U21 UEFA Uefa Nations League