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18th June 2024
10:45am BST
Ireland may be forced to play qualifying matches to secure their place at Euro 2028 - despite being one of the hosts
The home nations - England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland - will host the tournament four years from now.
Usually, host nations are automatically guaranteed a place in the competition but due to the volume of nations involved in the bid, UEFA have now drawn up a separate plan.
As per The Times, the European governing body have made a plan that will see two spots held back in reserve for any nation that doesn't qualify through the traditional route.
If three or four of the nations failed to qualify, then two places would be awarded to the two best-performing nations.
Only two of the home nations are at this year's European Championships: England and Scotland.
Both sides have had contrasting starts to life in Germany this year. S
cotland were hammered 5-1 by the host nation on Friday night while Jude Bellingham scored the only goal of the game in a narrow 1-0 win against Serbia on Sunday.
The Three Lions are one of the favourites to go on and win the tournament and despite suffering an early setback, the Tartan Army will be confident they can pick up results in their final two group games against Hungary and Switzerland to qualify for the last 16.
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