Ireland's Bid for 2029 UEFA Women's Champions League Final Falls Short

Ireland’s hopes of staging the 2029 UEFA Women’s Champions League final have been dashed, with Cardiff’s Principality Stadium winning the race ahead of Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

UEFA’s executive committee met on Tuesday to decide the host venues for several flagship events, and the Welsh capital edged out Dublin, Lyon’s Parc Olympique Lyonnais and Basel’s St Jakob-Park for the women’s showpiece.

For the FAI, it stings.

Dublin has become a familiar stage for major European nights, having hosted the men’s Europa League finals in 2011 and again this year in 2024. With seven games already locked in for Euro 2028, the association had pushed hard to add another elite occasion to the city’s growing portfolio. This time, though, the bid fell just short.

FAI CEO David Courell struck a diplomatic tone in defeat.

“Congratulations to the Football Association of Wales on their successful bid for Cardiff to host the 2029 UEFA Women's Champions League final and thank you to UEFA for its positive feedback on the association's bid,” he said.

He stressed that the failed bid would not derail Irish football’s wider strategy.

“The FAI's ambition to host this final was part of its ongoing commitment to supporting the development of women and girls' football and that will continue with participation levels at an all-time high, as well as more female coaches, match officials, administrators and volunteers helping to drive the game forward.”

So Ireland loses out, but Wales lands a landmark night – and with a familiar Irish hand at the wheel.

For Limerick native Noel Mooney, now chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, UEFA’s decision is a major victory and a powerful symbol of where Welsh football sees itself heading.

“This is about much more than one night in 2029,” Mooney said.

“Our ambition is for the UEFA Women's Champions League final to become a catalyst for the continued transformation of women’s and girls’ football in Wales.

“Welsh football has made incredible progress. We have more than 20,000 women and girls playing the game, a growing domestic structure through the Adran Leagues and a Cymru team that has now competed on the major tournament stage. Bringing this final to Wales gives us another opportunity to accelerate that progress.”

While Cardiff celebrated, UEFA also locked in the destinations for the men’s Champions League finals in the same cycle. Munich’s Allianz Arena will stage the 2028 final, with Barcelona’s Nou Camp – once its vast renovation is complete – awarded the 2029 showpiece. The 2028 Women’s Champions League final will go to Lyon, at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a venue steeped in the modern history of the women’s game.

Nations League shake-up hits home

Away from the glamour of finals hosting rights, UEFA’s executive committee signed off on a major reshaping of the UEFA Nations League format from 2026/27 onwards – changes that carry immediate consequences for the Republic of Ireland.

The key shift: from 2028/29, the Nations League will move from four leagues to three, each containing 18 teams. League D disappears. Promotion and relegation will be driven by an expanded play-off system designed to keep more teams in the fight deeper into each cycle.

For Ireland, currently operating in League B, the safety net just got a little thicker.

If the Boys in Green finish bottom of their League B group this year, they will no longer drop automatically. Instead, they will enter a relegation play-off, a last chance to cling on to their status. The campaign begins against Kosovo on Thursday, 24 September, with Israel and Austria completing the group.

The new structure draws clear battle lines:

• The four group winners in League B will be promoted to League A.
• The two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams in League A will be relegated to League B.
• The League A/B play-offs will feature the two lowest-ranked third-placed teams from League A and the two highest-ranked fourth-placed teams from League A, facing the four runners-up from League B.
• The winners of those ties will play in League A, the losers in League B.

The same logic applies one tier down.

• The four fourth-placed sides in League B will meet the four runners-up from League C in the League B/C play-offs.
• The four group winners of League C will be promoted to League B.
• The winners of the B/C play-offs will line up in League B, the defeated teams in League C.

With League D scrapped altogether, all current League D nations move up to League C, feeding into a three-tier system of 18 teams apiece. From 2028/29, each league will be split into three groups of six, with teams playing six matches: five different opponents, facing one team from their own seeding pot home and away, and the others either home or away.

It is a more crowded, more complex Nations League – but also one that offers Ireland both jeopardy and opportunity. Survival in League B is no longer purely about avoiding last place; it is about navigating a web of rankings and play-offs that can still pull a team up or drag it down.

The next moves will be plotted soon enough. UEFA’s executive committee reconvenes in Belfast on 7 December, a day after the Euro 2028 qualifying draw in the same city – another reminder that, even when the finals go elsewhere, this corner of the islands remains firmly on European football’s map.