Ireland soccer chief says game against Israel to go ahead after ‘significant majority’ of players vote in favor

Ireland will play their Nations League soccer match against Israel tomorrow, after a vote took place within the squad on whether to fulfill the fixture, Football Association of Ireland (FAI) CEO David Courell says.

Ireland had postponed their pre-match press conference ahead of the game in Hungary, and their training session was also delayed.

This was to allow further talks to continue between Irish players, coaching staff and executives, after one player announced their intention to withdraw from the squad.

“This morning, a player expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture to the head coach and indicated their intent to withdraw from the squad,” Courell tells reporters.

“Ultimately, within the last maybe 90 minutes, we carried out a vote amongst the squad to establish their sentiment on fulfilling the fixtures and it was a significant majority that was returned with the intention to continue.

“So based on that, the association took the decision on behalf of Irish football that this fixture would continue as we have always intended to fulfill the fixtures.”

FAI CEO David Courell says a vote took place among the Republic of Ireland squad on whether to fulfil the Nations League fixture against Israel, and a "significant majority" of the players voted to play the game. #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/stQyo6Sgmj

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 26, 2026