THE DRAW has been made and the ticket scramble has begun. Ireland’s biggest match since the World Cup finals in 2002 will be a sell-out home and away, but that is the only certainly facing thousands of fans who want to go to either leg.
Those who stayed away from the Italy and Montenegro games are extremely unlikely to get tickets for the home match against France at Croke Park on Saturday, November 14th.
The capacity for Croke Park will be 72,000, and the French will have an allocation of 10 per cent.
Those who bought tickets for the Italy and Montenegro games through the FAI will receive an invoice to buy tickets for the French match.
Fans who bought tickets through Ticketmaster or from Carrolls in Dublin have until tomorrow to return their stubs through the post.
Nearly 70,000 fans attended the Italy match, so the mathematics are simple.
“We might have a limited number to play around it, but we are probably looking at around 1,000 if we have them at all,” said a rueful FAI spokesman.
The good news for Irish fans is that Paris is the most accessible of the four potential venues for the away leg, but the bad news is that many fans who want to travel will be disappointed.
In 2004, 25,000 Irish fans turned up for the World Cup qualifier in the Stade de France. This time notoriously fickle French fans are likely to turn out in numbers given the all-or-nothing nature of the return leg which takes place on Wednesday, November 18th.
Irish fans are only entitled to 10 per cent of capacity at the Stade de France or about 8,000 tickets.
FAI chief executive John Delaney is travelling to Paris tomorrow to secure as many tickets as possible.
As of last night, flying with Ryanair on the morning of the match and returning the following days costs €278.10, which includes taxes and charges. A similar flight on Aer Lingus costs €379 return.
Aer Lingus has put on an extra 700 seats, and Ryanair has added extra flights.
Abbey Travel, the official travel agent for the FAI, says demand for its day and overnight packages, costing between between €350 and €430 all in, has been “huge” and it expects to sell out its allocation of 800 tickets by the weekend.
“People have been saving up for an away trip and this is the one,” said managing director Neil Horgan.
