2011 Nations Cup Fixtures

December 21st, 2010 | by: Ian Rose | Comments Off

This spring may seem like a fairly drab time for international football – yeah, there are some Euro qualifiers, but the year after a World Cup always feels a bit underwhelming. But there’s one good reason for Scotland fans to get excited about this coming spring. For years, we’ve been missing the joy that was the home internationals. We haven’t played our closest local rivals in a long time, the way we used to do every year. Now, after years of arguing and cajoling, we have the next best thing to the home nations matches – the Nations Cup.

All four actual home nations (shut up, England) will compete in a round robin competition starting in February. Here are the fixtures:

8 Feb 2011: Ireland vs. Wales
9 Feb 2011: Northern Ireland vs. Scotland
24 May 2011: Ireland vs. Northern Ireland
25 May 2011: Wales vs. Scotland
27 May 2011: Wales vs. Northern Ireland
29 May 2011: Ireland vs. Scotland

All matches are set to be hosted at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, so even though we technically have three away matches, so do Ulster and Wales. Here’s hoping that this becomes a regular tournament, and that eventually, the English decide to get off their high horses and stop whining about fixture congestion and join in. Not that they’ll be missed, but tradition is tradition. Merry Christmas folks.