Republic of Ireland look to seal back-to-back wins in the UEFA Nations League with their visit to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium to face Greece in Athens.

Heimir Hallgrímsson's side are buoyant heading into the fixture following their dramatic 2-1 win over Finland on Thursday night in Helsinki. 

After Joel Pohjanpalo's opener, Liam Scales' header, first international goal, equalised for Ireland in the 57th minute before Robbie Brady benefitted from Festy Ebosele's impressive wing-play to fire home at the back-post with two minutes to go to secure a famous win.

Ireland will be looking to use the confidence and momentum from Helsinki in Athens with a crowd of 28,000 expected at the 30,000 seater tomorrow night, with 1000 Irish supporters set to make the trip. 

Match Details

Fixture: Greece v Ireland
Competition: UEFA Nations League
Date: Sunday, October 13
Kick-off: 7.45pm (9.45pm local time)
Location: Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens

Match Officials

Referee: Joey Kooji (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Joost van Zullen (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Inia (NED)
Fourth Official: Jannick van der Laan (NED)
Video Assistant Referee: Clay Ruperti (NED)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jeroen Manschot (NED)

Team News

Mark McGuinness has returned to his club after sustaining an injury in training earlier in the week and didn't fly to Athens. No replacement has been called in so Ireland will operate on a 22-man squad tomorrow. 

MD-1 Press Conference v Greece

Republic of Ireland Head Coach Heimir Hallgrímsson

“I hope so but I really don’t care if we are easy to analyse, if we are difficult to play against.

“I said that about Finland. Finland is a pretty easy team to analyse. They are consistent in what they are doing, they are just good at it and that is why they are difficult to play against.

"I want us to be, I would like us to be a team like that, that people hate to play against.”

On the tragic passing of George Baldock: “Moments like this just bring not only them, people together and make you realise life is more than football.

“I am a little bit connected to this because he played for my home-town club back in Iceland when he was 18. He played a season there. We, of course, give condolences to his family and everyone around."

Republic of Ireland midfielder Josh Cullen

“A win always lifts morale. It helps with the mood around the camp, of course. But we’ve another game to focus on tomorrow night quickly after the game on Thursday.

“Our attention turns to the game tomorrow. It’s a tough game that we’ve had to prepare for really quickly.

“No one likes losing games and everyone wants to be a winner, and we’ve got a squad full - staff included - of people who want to win games.

“But the way you win games is in details and a lot of smaller parts that you have to make sure you get right to earn the right to win games. We did that on Thursday. We know we have to prepare right and be ready to go."

Match Facts | Greece v Republic of Ireland

- Greece are unbeaten in their six previous games against the Republic of Ireland, keeping five clean sheets across those matches (W5 D1).
- Republic of Ireland are winless in their six previous meetings with Greece (D1 L5), losing the last four in a row – only against Italy have the Boys in Green ever lost more consecutive games (6 between 1926 and 1992).
- Greece have lost just one of their last 12 home matches across all competitions (W8 D3) and are unbeaten in each of their last four on home soil (W3 D1) since a 0-1 defeat to Netherlands in a European Championship qualifier in October 2023.
- Republic of Ireland won their first ever UEFA Nations League away match last time out (2-1 v Finland) and are looking to win back-to-back matches on the road across all competitions for the first time since November 2021 when they recorded wins against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.
- Greece have won each of their last four matches, keeping a clean sheet in three of those, and could make it five wins on the trot across all competitions for the first time since October 2016.
- Republic of Ireland have won just four of their last 14 competitive matches, losing nine and drawing the other. They did however win last time out (2-1 v Finland) and are looking to win consecutive competitive matches for the first time since March 2019 when they beat Gibraltar and Georgia, both by a 1-0 scoreline.
- Anastasios Bakasetas has been directly involved in 44% of all of Greece’s goals in the UEFA Nations League (12/27), scoring five and providing seven assists in his 20 matches. He has provided four assists in his last four appearances in the competition.
- Robbie Brady has been directly involved in more goals for the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League than any other player (5 – 2 goals, 3 assists), with Brady both scoring and providing an assist in the Boys in Green’s last match in the competition (2-1 v Finland).

Republic of Ireland Squad - Greece

Goalkeepers: Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (AFC Bournemouth), Max O'Leary (Bristol City)
Defenders: Festy Ebosele (Watford, on loan from Udinese), Andrew Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town), Liam Scales (Celtic), Robbie Brady (Preston North End).
Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Burnley), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Jamie McGrath (Aberdeen).
Forwards: Adam Idah (Celtic), Evan Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion), Chiedozie Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Kasey McAteer (Leicester City), Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich Town), Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar).

UEFA Nations League - Fixtures

10/10 - Finland 1-2 Ireland, Olympic Stadium, Helsinki
13/10 - Greece v Ireland, Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens, 7.45pm (9.45pm local time)