Republic of Ireland

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• Manager:Giovanni Trapattoni

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Irish World Cup request denied

01 Dec 2009 - 14:45:24

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FIFA have officially rejected the possibility of the Republic of Ireland taking part in next summer's World Cup as an additional 33rd team.

The Football Association of Ireland had lobbied the game's global governing body for inclusion in the finals in South Africa following the controversial nature of their play-off defeat to France last month.

Giovanni Trapattoni's team lost out when William Gallas netted after Thierry Henry had handled the ball in the build-up to a goal in Paris which sent Les Bleus through 2-1 on aggregate.

President Sepp Blatter had revealed on Monday that the Irish authorities had written to FIFA requesting entry to the tournament next summer.

However, secretary general Jerome Valcke has officially ruled out their request after claiming they cannot change the structure of the tournament.

Valcke said he "would not say it is a nonsense but it is impossible."

Blatter himself had earlier warned of chaos should Ireland be allowed to compete as an additional team.

Referring to a Costa Rican complaint of an illegitimate goal in their recent play-off against Uruguay, he said: "Naturally they (the Republic of Ireland) were unhappy with what happened and asked very humbly whether they could be team number 33.

"I will bring it to the attention of the executive committee but, if we do that, we will also have to bring in Costa Rica."