Kenny’s first tie likely to be October

STEPHEN Kenny’s bow as Republic of Ireland boss may be deferred until October as Europe’s top clubs are piling pressure on UEFA chiefs to delay the return of international football. UEFA’s executive committee will reconvene for a two-day meeting tomorrow, with the scheduling of the UEFA Nations League fixtures on the agenda, along with the Euro 2020 play-offs. The group stages for the competition are due to start on September 3, with Ireland visiting Bulgaria, followed by a home game against Finland three days later where the FAI hope to see 18,000 fans at the Aviva. As it stands, the September fixtures are still due to go ahead, though given the

disruption to the football calendar means those games are under threat.

And the Premier League’s top clubs, through the European Club Association, will lobby against keeping the September window given the significant disruption it would cause to their preparations for next season.

The start of the 2020/21 English domestic campaign, slated for August 8, is almost certain to be delayed, with the second week of September already pencilled as a potential kick-off date.

In that scenario, Premier League teams would have to release their players for international fixtures two weeks before the start of the season.

Instead, Premier League teams would prefer for international fixtures to return in either October or November — though that prospect would provide UEFA with a scheduling headache.

As Sportsmail revealed, FIFA are proposing the creation of a long international break, in which national teams could play as many as eight games in November and December in a move to restart the international game while also giving more space for club football.

The UEFA meeting will also discuss Champions League and Europa League scheduling for the remainder of this year’s competition, while plans for next year’s European club tournaments are also on the agenda.

European football’s governing body are exploring plans to hold what will essentially be a minitournament in August to conclude this season’s Champions League in Lisbon.

The latter stages of the Europa League, will be played off in Germany, it’s understood.

Meanwhile, Derry City are adamant that the mooted four-team tournament involving the Euro-bound League of Ireland clubs next month ‘would not proceed’.

Instead, the Candystripes are getting braced for a League restart in mid-August as the Covid-19 numbers decline and restrictions on movement are gradually eased.

The FAI refused to comment last night whether the event they announced on May 15 was going ahead, which suggests it’s very much on hold pending further review.

The key issue behind a League restart is finance with the FAI and the club set for further talks tomorrow on compensation for playing behind closed doors, at least initially.

Derry believe the FAI figures do not reflect the efforts made by clubs to keep going during the crisis.

FAI medical chief Alan Byrne hailed yesterday’s ‘Safer Return to Training’ for clubs as ‘great news.

‘It’s fantastic to begin the journey back to playing,’ he said, as adult and under-age clubs were permitted to train in groups of up to 15.