The Republic of Ireland begin a decisive Nations League campaign this month, their first competitive football since a penalty shootout defeat to the Czech Republic in March ended their hopes of reaching the summer’s World Cup. Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side open against Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday, a fixture that marks their return to competitive action after a run of four friendlies.
Since that loss in Prague, Ireland have beaten Grenada and Qatar and drawn with North Macedonia and Canada, but those summer friendlies now give way to a congested, new-look international window featuring four games in 12 days. Across that spell Hallgrimsson’s men will face Kosovo, Israel twice and Austria.
Hallgrimsson has named a 26-man squad to cope with the extra demands of the extended window. He is without captain Nathan Collins, ruled out by a calf injury after limping off in Brentford’s 1-1 draw earlier this month, a significant blow given that Collins has been first-choice to marshal the back three when fit. Jack Taylor and Mikey Johnston come in alongside long-term absentees Evan Ferguson and Josh Cullen, while Oisin McEntee missed out on a first call-up through injury. Jimmy Dunne, Bosun Lawal and Owen Elding are among those nursing injuries or working back to full fitness, and QPR’s Harvey Vale and Hibernian’s Jamie McGrath were hurt in the warm-up before their clubs’ respective games on Saturday and played no part.
Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady were not considered for selection as both are without clubs. Sheffield United loanee Liam Kitching has been handed a first call-up, while uncapped Cardiff City defender Joel Bagan and Hibernian’s Elding are in contention to win their first caps. With the schedule so tight, Hallgrimsson is expected to use a large portion of his squad as he looks to grow depth, which is much needed in the full-back areas and in midfield.
Troy Parrott arrives in the most confident form of any Irish player. The 24-year-old has taken seamlessly to life in La Liga with Real Betis, coming off the bench to score the winner against Real Madrid earlier this month, then sealing a 3-2 Champions League debut victory away to Lille with another winning goal, before providing an assist against Getafe. He has firmly established himself as Ireland’s first-choice striker. Hull City’s John Egan, a mainstay of his club’s positive start back in the Premier League, is pushing to start in Collins’s absence, while Swansea City’s Adam Idah has three goals and an assist in eight Championship games.
Results in this Nations League will have a lasting impact on Ireland’s Euro 2028 qualification. Finishing top of the group would earn promotion to League A, while second place would bring a play-off against a third-placed team from League A to try to win promotion. More importantly, finishing first or second guarantees Ireland a place in pot two for the Euro 2028 qualifiers draw in Belfast in December, which in theory could present a kinder draw. A third-place finish would leave them in League B, and finishing bottom would mean a play-off against a second-placed team from League C, with defeat bringing relegation to the third tier of the Nations League. A third- or fourth-place finish would place Ireland in pot three for the Euro 2028 qualifiers, raising the prospect of being paired with two European heavy hitters. The best-performing teams in the Nations League that do not qualify automatically for the Euros will enter play-offs for the final qualifying spots.
Hallgrimsson was explicit about what is riding on the fixtures. “Our seeding for the Euros depends on the Nations League,” he said. “League A will mean better opponents and would be better financially for FAI and there is an escape route to the Euros from the Nations League, so lots of reasons we want to do really well in these Nations League matches.”
The opener in Pristina is a tricky away test against a Kosovo side whose build-up has been far from smooth. Franco Foda’s team, in League B for the first time, will be without their captain and one of their best players, Amir Rrahmanhi. The Napoli defender abruptly retired from international football after a fallout with the Football Federation of Kosovo, issuing a scathing Instagram statement in which the 32-year-old, capped 66 times across 10 years as a Kosovo international, accused the association of “constant, co-ordinated attacks” against him. In more positive news, Foda has handed a first call-up to Bayern Munich youngster Erblin Osmani, who chose to represent Kosovo earlier this month. He became Bayern’s second youngest ever Bundesliga player at 16 years and 306 days when he came on in a 4-0 win over Union Berlin earlier this year. Kosovo’s ambassador to Germany, Faruk Ajeti, posted on social media to confirm Osmani would play for the country after presenting him with his Kosovo passport, before the player had even announced his decision.
Ireland also face two controversial games against Israel, both at neutral venues. Israel, who featured in League A in the last edition of the Nations League, will stage their ‘home’ game in Hungary on 27 September, with the reverse fixture in Serbia on 4 October. The FAI confirmed its ‘home’ tie would be played behind closed doors, and no tickets will be made available to Irish fans for the away game given the unease in the country about the fixtures going ahead. Hallgrimsson said he had spoken to members of his squad individually about the prospect of facing Israel and that “none of us feel comfortable playing in these games,” while acknowledging the squad must stick together to get through them. At an extraordinary general meeting in July, delegates backed an FAI motion to proceed amid concerns that boycotting would cause “significant and lasting harm” to the association. Pressure has grown since, with Irish Sport for Palestine launching a ‘Stop The Game’ campaign calling for a boycott.
Between the Israel fixtures, Ireland host Austria at the Aviva Stadium. Austria are without three pillars of their side from the past decade. Marko Arnautovic, their most capped player and record goalscorer, retired from international football after their World Cup exit at the last-32 stage; David Alaba, their captain at the tournament, is omitted as he is currently without a club after leaving Real Madrid in the summer; and Marcel Sabitzer has decided to take a break from representing his country and will be absent for the entire Nations League campaign. Alaba, a four-time Champions League winner, has missed 109 games for club and country over the last three years but played all four of Austria’s games at the World Cup. With a changing of the guard inevitable given their respective ages, former Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has decided to use the Nations League to bring through the next generation, a transition that raises the question of whether Hallgrimsson might do likewise with so much riding on his own side’s results.