The quest to qualify for UEFA EURO 2025 will begin on Friday evening for Ireland as they come up against France in the Saint-Smyphorien Stadium.
Eileen Gleeson’s squad arrived in France on Wednesday afternoon, having started their preparation for this Group A3 opener in the FAI National Training Centre.
This will be Ireland’s first visit to France since 2012 and a debut in Metz, a city that Les Bleus have not played in since a 2-0 win over Switzerland in February 2021.
Speaking ahead of the tie, Ireland boss Eileen Gleeson was asked what was most important and responded by saying, "To win! We are coming here to compete, to try and win the game, and to affect the game in whatever way we can.
"That has to be the starting point; we are coming to win the game.
Our @WEURO Qualifying journey begins tomorrow ☘️
v 🇫🇷 | KO at 20:10#COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/xY7vcGBgae— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) April 4, 2024
"This is where we are; this is where we want to be. This is the draw we got. In terms of Irish women's football, it is super important to be consistent and to sustain consistent qualification into major tournaments, and this is a step along that process.
"We had our first World Cup but we don’t want it to stop there, we want to continue, we want to qualify for more."
Louise Quinn added, "It's about keeping it for slightly longer periods of time, getting that control when we are in possession, knowing when to turn them—do we go out, do we go out to go in?".
"This is modern football now. It's play, play, play and for us, we want to move forward with that."
MATCH DETAILS
UEFA EURO 2025 Qualifier
Group A3
France vs. Ireland
Friday, April 5
Saint-Smyphorien Stadium, Metz
KO 20:10 (Irish Time)
LIVE on RTÉ2
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Maria Caputi (Italy)
Assistant Referee 1: Francesca Di Monte (Italy)
Assistant Referee 2: Tiziana Trasciatti (Italy)
Fourth Official: Alice Gagliardi (Italy)
Predicted line-ups
France: Pauline Peyraud-Magnin; Maelle Lakrar, Griedge Mbock Bathy, Eve Perisset, Sakina Karchaoui; Sandie Toletti, Kenza Dali; Selma Bacha, Kadidiatou Diani, Antoinette Katoto; Delphine Cascarino
Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Heather Payne, Caitlin Hayes, Louise Quinn, Aoife Mannion, Katie McCabe; Tyler Toland, Megan Connolly, Denise O'Sullivan; Jess Ziu; Kyra Carusa
