The Football Association of Ireland has today updated its Safer Return to Training & Play Protocol for Adult Amateur, Youth and Underage Grassroots football ahead of Monday’s return to play under the latest Government guidelines

The new Protocol has been distributed to all affiliates and includes updated guidelines on training and playing in the COVID-19 pandemic under the Government’s Resilience and Recovery – The Path Ahead programme.

The new guidelines allow for numbers of up to 100 at games staged in outdoor venues with a capacity up to 5,000 and for 200 for a capacity of more than 5,000. Outdoor training will continue to be restricted to pods of 15. All FAI protocols are subject to Government guidelines.

Welcoming the Return to Play for all levels of Irish football on Monday, the FAI’s Head of Grassroots Ger McDermott said: “Everyone involved with our game is looking forward to football getting back on the pitch all across Ireland from Monday. We again thank all our stakeholders for their compliance with FAI Protocols and Government guidelines throughout the pandemic and we know they will continue to adhere to these latest Protocol guidelines from June 7. We would also like to wish them all a very happy, enjoyable and safe return to football.”