FAI Refunds Ireland Season Ticket Holders for Israel Game

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 a choice: an account credit or a straight cash refund for the value of the Israel game, calculated as roughly one fifth of the overall season ticket price. The association has also moved to soften the blow of the empty stadium by confirming that all season ticket holders will still receive loyalty points for the fixture, despite being unable to attend.

Upcoming Matches

Ireland’s 2026-27 Nations League campaign begins away to Kosovo in Pristina on 24 September, but the football has been pushed firmly into the background. The real noise surrounds the back-to-back meetings with Israel on 27 September and 1 October, matches that have already been moved to neutral venues in Hungary and Serbia.

The FAI has come under 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. That pressure has not shifted the association’s stance.

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

The games will go ahead. The fans will stay home. The fault lines around Irish football’s place in this debate are only getting sharper.