- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales
- Republic of Ireland
The 'Celtic Cup' style tournament will be held in Dublin at the new Aviva Stadium and the first two games are to take place on 8th and 9th February 2011. The remaining four games will take place from 24th-28th May.
The tournament is to be held in one country on a rotational tournament-by-tournament basis with two games being played on match days.
The old Home Championship, which included England but not the Republic of Ireland, was staged every year until 1984. It is believed England did not want to participate siting fixture congestion. England indicated they waned to play a variety of "other" teams. Recently they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago and played the Soca Warriors.
Following a meeting in Copenhagen, the Football Associations of Northern Ireland (IFA), Republic of Ireland (FAI), Scotland (SFA) and Wales (FAW) agreed on provisional dates for the six matches of the 4 Associations’ Tournament which will take place in Dublin in 2011.
The tournament will be operated on a league basis with six matches to be played between the four neighbouring teams. Provisional agreement was reached that the first two games of the tournament involving all four teams will take place on February 8 and February 9, 2011 while it was agreed that the remaining four games would take place three months later on May 24, 25, 27 and 28.
The Tournament is expected to attract many thousands of supporters from all over Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland along with the UEFA Europa League final which will take place at Aviva Stadium on May 18, 2011.
Welcoming confirmation of the dates, David Collins, Secretary General Football Association of Wales said:
"The FAW is delighted that we have finally reached agreement on the tournament taking place in Dublin in 2011. After many months of work we are delighted that this has now come about. We look forward to a great tournament especially in the new stadium in Dublin and we trust it will be a huge success which will enable us to extending in future years '.
They are hoping England will join this tournament to give it more exposure and clout in the future.
1 comment:
The Caribbean has their Cup, Central America has the UNCAF Cup the North REgion should have something similar to the Celtic Cup.
USA, Mexico, Canada and invite Puerto Rico or even Greenland. Have Yucatan region place a good team, or even have a California team to make four. Greenland can send Denmarks B team to compete.
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