The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) will ask FIFA to switch their World Cup qualifier in Georgia next month to a neutral venue because of the conflict in the country, its chief executive said on Monday. "We have decided to formalise our position to FIFA and will be writing to them seeking a change of venue," John Delaney told Reuters.
Delaney was speaking after chairing an emergency FAI meeting in Dublin to discuss whether Ireland's opening Group 8 tie in Tbilisi on September 6 should go ahead as hostilities continued between Georgia and Russia. "We are very concerned about the worsening situation," Delaney said.
"The safety of the players and the fans must be our primary concern. We will of course monitor the situation carefully. But at this stage we cannot be assured of our safety in Georgia. "We will work with FIFA, UEFA and the Georgian FA to help in whatever way we can to make sure the game does not become a casualty of what is a very sad and difficult situation," he added.
European soccer's governing body UEFA said the UEFA Cup tie between WIT Georgia and Austria Vienna, set for Tbilisi on Thursday, would be moved to Armenia or Azerbaijan. "We are discussing the final venue but it will be played in either Baku in Azerbaijan or Abovyan in Armenia," a UEFA spokesman said. Georgia launched an attack last week in an attempt to regain control over the pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.
Russian forces responded by sending in troops and conducting air strikes, with hundreds of civilians being killed. A FIFA spokesman said soccer's world governing body was "closely monitoring the situation" and they had been in contact with the FAI and the Georgian FA. Georgia are also due to play Wales in a friendly in Swansea next week.
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