The FAI will discover on Tuesday tomorrow whether the Aviva Stadium has been chosen to host the 2029 Women’s Champions League final.
Uefa’s executive committee will meet in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Tuesday tomorrow morning and one of the items on the agenda will be the announcement of the host stadium for the 2029 decider, with the FAI having formally submitted their bid last June.
The 51,700-capacity Dublin 4 stadium is one of four potential venues, with Wales’ Millennium Stadium (73,931), France’s Parc Olympique Lyonnais (59,186), and St Jakob-Park (37,500) in Basel, Switzerland also on the shortlist. The latter two have also bid for the 2028 final.
Lansdowne Road has hosted European club finals before, most recently in 2024 when Atalanta defeated Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to win the Europa League. The 2011 Europa League final was also held at the venue, as Porto edged Braga 1-0 in an all-Portuguese affair.
The Aviva is also preparing to host seven games at Euro 2028 (co-hosted by Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales), including a round-of-16 tie and a quarter-final.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s Ireland will play all three of their group games at the stadium should they qualify either automatically, or through the back-door route on offer for two co-hosts who don’t get over the line in regular qualifying.
Along with the host stadium announcements for the 2028 and 2029 Women’s Champions League finals, tomorrow Uefa will also confirm the host venues for the the 2028 and 2029 men’s Champions League, Europa League and Conference League finals, as well as the Super Cup.
Speaking in June when the FAI formally submitted their bid, which is supported by the Government, FAI CEO David Courell said he hoped it would inspire the next generation of Irish female footballers.
“Dublin would be the perfect host city for the 2029 Uefa Women’s Champions League final because of our track record of successfully hosting major Uefa events, the strong working relationship that we have with Government, Dublin City Council and Aviva Stadium, the growing popularity of women and girls’ football around the country, and our ambition to deliver, what we believe, would be the best Final in the competition’s history,” he said.
“Irish football has a strong connection to the Uefa Women’s Champions League with four individual winners in Emma Byrne, Ciara Grant, Yvonne Tracy and Katie McCabe, while 11 different Irish clubs have competed in qualifiers since its inception. Now, we want to bring its showpiece event to Dublin to inspire the current and next generation of girls.
“This bid is about much more than hosting a single game, it is about maximising the opportunity of leading generational change.”