Casement Park: UK government will not fund rebuild for 2028

The chances of Northern Ireland hosting matches at the Euro 2028 football tournament appear to have gone.

The UK government announced on Friday night that the estimated cost of rebuilding Casement Park stadium in Belfast could be more than £400m.

The government said it will not be providing funding to redevelop the stadium in time for the tournament.

It said there was a “significant risk” that the stadium would not be built in time.

The announcement was made in a joint letter from NI Secretary Hilary Benn and Sports Minister Lisa Nandy to Stormont Minister Gordon Lyons, who is in charge of sport in Northern Ireland.

In the letter, Benn and Nandy said: “The estimated build costs have risen dramatically – from £180m when the EURO 2028 bid was awarded in October 2023 to potentially over £400m – and there is a significant risk that it would not be built in time for the tournament.

“We have therefore, regrettably, decided that it is not appropriate for the UK Government to provide funding to seek to build Casement Park in time to host matches at EURO 2028.”

In order to be ready for the 2028 tournament, Casement Park needs to be rebuilt by the summer of 2027.

With no funding package in place, that now seems impossible.

Northern Ireland could have some role as a training base, or host warm-up matches at the existing Windsor Park stadium, but the dream of hosting tournament fixtures appears to be over.

The initial estimated cost of rebuilding Casement was £77.5m with £62.5m coming from the Stormont executive and £15m from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).

That was more than a decade ago and since then costs have risen dramatically.

To try to cater for soccer as well as GAA matches increased the cost further, as UEFA requires a higher specification of stadium.

Although hopes of being part of the Euro 2028 tournament may be over, it does not mean the stadium cannot be rebuilt for the GAA, which was the original purpose.

However, that will not be cheap either, and the GAA will be hoping that even though the UK government has said it will not be funding a Euro 2028 compliant stadium, it may still contribute to the redevelopment whenever it happens.

The Irish government has already pledged more than £40m.

Benn and Nandy’s letter stated: “The government has always been committed to ensuring that Northern Ireland could host the Euros if there was any way to achieve that.

“And so, when we took office in July, we said that we would swiftly, but fully, analyse whether Casement Park could be successfully completed to the required UEFA timelines and in line with their minimum requirements.”

The letter added that the risk of the stadium not being completed in time was due in part to “almost no progress” having been made in the period between the Euro game being awarded to Belfast and the election of the new government.

“This has been a very difficult decision to make, given our belief in the Euro 2028 partnership, but it is the only way forward in the circumstances,” the letter added

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