The Republic of Ireland national futsal team has represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

in the

UEFA Futsal Championship The UEFA European Futsal Championship is the main futsal competition of the men's national futsal teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations). History The first tournament was held in Spain in 1996 and featured only six t ...

. The Republic of Ireland has, to date, never qualified for the final stages of a major tournament. It has, however, taken part in several invitational tournaments, such as the 2008 Four Nations Futsal Cup. It is organised by the Football Association of Ireland.

History

Early years

The Republic of Ireland national futsal team have been active since at least 1983. In July 1983, in

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, they competed in a six team nations tournament. After defeating

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and losing to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in the group stage, the Republic of Ireland defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

7–2 in a third/fourth place play-off. The other participants included

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and the eventual winners,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In June 2001 they played a series of friendlies against Scotland and in February 2002 they hosted the Masita Cup tournament at

St Columba's College, Dublin St Columba's College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school founded in 1843 located in Whitechurch, County Dublin, Ireland. Among the founders of the college were Viscount Adare (who later became The 3rd Earl of Dunraven and M ...

. Other participants in this tournament included Scotland,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and Tranmere Victoria, a club side that represented England. In October 2002 they also competed in the British Isles Nations Futsal Cup in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. The other participants in this competition included Tranmere Victoria, Scotland, Northern Ireland and

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. During this latter tournament the team was managed by Derek O'Neill, the FAI's futsal co-ordinator, and coached by Stephen Finn.

Revival

In 2007 the national team was revived, initially playing as an U21 team and selecting players from the Eircom U21 Futsal League. In December 2007 a Republic of Ireland U21 squad featuring

Dane Massey Dane Massey (born 17 April 1988) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bray Wanderers in the League of Ireland Premier Division. He has also played for Dundalk, Drogheda United and for the Republic of Ireland national ...

Gary McCabe Gary McCabe (born 1 August 1988) is a retired Irish footballer who last played for Bray Wanderers as a winger. Career McCabe began his youth career at Leinster Senior League side Crumlin United. His impressive performances in the youth and ...

and Ciarán Kilduff travelled to Portugal and played two friendlies against Benfica and

Sporting Lisbon Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. In April 2008 the Republic of Ireland U21s also competed in the

UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament was a futsal competition organised by UEFA. As of 2020, only one edition of the competition has ever been played. The 2008 tournament was hosted and won by Russia who defeated Italy 5–4 in the final. ...

, travelling to

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella french: Andorre-la-Vieille is the capital (political), capital of the Andorra, Principality of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, parish ...

to compete in a qualifying tournament against

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, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. The squad again included

. In preparation for the tournament the team played a friendly against an

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team, defeating them 2–0. In the tournament itself, the Republic of Ireland defeated Azerbaijan 4–3 and finished third. In December 2008 the senior team was revived with two friendlies against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. The squad included Thomas Morgan, Gary McCabe and Dane Massey. In the first game, which was screened live on Hungarian television, the Republic lost 4–1. Later in the same month, together with

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and

, the Republic of Ireland also competed in the 2008 Four Nations Futsal Cup. The Republic, with a squad that included Dane Massey and Thomas Morgan, held England to a 3–3 draw.

UEFA Futsal Championship

The Republic of Ireland has competed in the qualifying stages of the

twice during the 2010s. In February 2009 with a squad that included Thomas Morgan,

and

, the Republic of Ireland played against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in a

2010 UEFA Futsal Championship The 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship was the seventh official edition of the UEFA-governed European Championship for national futsal teams. It was hosted by Hungary, between January 19 and January 30, 2010, in two venues located in Budapest ( Papp L ...

preliminary group qualifying tournament. The Republic of Ireland also acted as hosts and all six group games were played at the

National Basketball Arena National Basketball Arena, also known as Tallaght Arena, is an indoor sporting arena located in Tymon Park, Tallaght, South Dublin, adjacent to the M50 motorway. The capacity of the arena is 2,500 people and it opened in January 1993. It is u ...

. The Republic lost to both Cyprus and Kazakhstan, either side of a 2–0 win against England. The Republic's scorers against England were Lloyd Massey, the brother of Dane, and Philip McDonagh. In January 2011 the Republic of Ireland played against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in a

UEFA Futsal Euro 2012 The UEFA Futsal Euro 2012 was the eighth official edition of the UEFA European Championship for national futsal teams. It was hosted by Croatia, and was played from January, 31 to February, 11. 12 teams competed for the title, with 11 teams gain ...

preliminary group qualifying tournament. This tournament saw the Massey brothers, Dane and Lloyd, take part together in a third UEFA Futsal qualifying tournament. Once again the Republic of Ireland acted as hosts and all six group games were again played at the National Basketball Arena. On this occasion the Republic of Ireland lost all three of their games.

DiaEuro Futsal

In recent times, the Republic of Ireland have been represented by the DiaEuro futsal squad; the national team for players with diabetes. The team was founded by Cathal Fleming in 2018 and have gone on to represent the nation at the 2019 DiaEuro futsal championships in Kiev.

New Era

In the Summer of 2020, Ireland Futsal Union was launched as the governing body for AMF futsal in Ireland. The body aims to be the sole governing body of Futsal in Republic of Ireland. This will be done by promoting the Ireland Futsal Union Cup as the main competition. The winners of the IFU cup will book their place in the FEF Champions cup. Irish national players will also be seleceted from the IFU cup. ;Record

Last qualifying campaign

UEFA Futsal Euro 2012

;Group F – Final table ;Matches

Notable players

2011 squad

''The squad selected for the

qualifying tournament in January 2011''

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...
players

* Thomas Morgan

Results and fixtures

References

{{UEFA futsal teams

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

1983 establishments in Ireland