The Football Association of Ireland can confirm that all players at all levels of football in Ireland can engage in full contact outdoor training in pods of 15 from Monday, May 10, under the new Government guidelines.

Adult Amateur and Youth (U19) teams return to training from Monday and the FAI has confirmed with the Government that all teams can engage in contact training.

FAI Head of Grassroots Ger McDermott said: “We have informed all our clubs today of this most welcome news from Government. The return to training for our adult amateur and Youth (U19) teams will now coincide with the return to contact training in pods of 15 for all our players. We have updated our Safer Return to Training Protocol to reflect this and have shared this with our clubs and made it available online at www.fai.ie

“Football has proven itself to be a safe environment for all our players and volunteers through this pandemic and we again thank all our clubs and stakeholders for their commitment and adherence to the Government guidelines. We are getting closer to a return to play for all our teams and we thank the Government, the Expert Medical Group and Sport Ireland for their help in getting us to this point.”