FAI Refunds Ireland Season Ticket Holders for Closed-Door Match

The FAI will refund Ireland season ticket holders after confirming that the upcoming home Nations League fixture against Israel will be played behind closed doors in Serbia.

Supporters who bought season tickets are being offered either an account credit or a cash refund for the value of the game, calculated at roughly one fifth of the overall season ticket price. The association has also moved to protect fan status: all season ticket holders will receive loyalty points as if they had attended, despite being locked out of the fixture.

Upcoming Matches

Ireland’s 2026-27 Nations League campaign begins away to Kosovo in Pristina on 24 September, but the football has been pushed into the background. The real noise surrounds the back-to-back matches against Israel on 27 September and 1 October, both stripped of a home crowd and shifted out of Ireland altogether, first to Hungary and then to Serbia.

Those decisions have unfolded under intense scrutiny. The FAI has faced sustained pressure from the “Stop the Game” campaign, which has called for a boycott of the fixtures in protest at the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The association has held its line.

Last month, an FAI motion to proceed with the games passed with a 68% majority. In defending that stance, the FAI pointed to “the profound impact that non-fulfilment of UEFA fixtures would have on Irish football as a whole and its future development.”

The football will go ahead. The stands will not be full. The fallout, on and off the pitch, is only just beginning.