Crowds attending the funeral of George Best on Saturday will be strictly controlled.
Organisers, worried by the prospect of hundreds of thousands expecting to gain entrance to the Stormont estate where the funeral ceremony will be staged, have limited the number of mourners to 32,000.
Safety considerations have forced the imposition of the limit as it is deemed unacceptably risky for a huge crowd to take up vantage positions on the grass banks of the Stormont estate.
The organisers hope mourners will instead line the cortege's route from the family home in the Cregagh area to Stormont and then onwards to Roselawn Cemetery. Arrangements for the return of the football star's coffin are not confirmed, but The Irish Times understands plans for it to be flown to an RAF base near Aldergrove airport on Friday are under consideration.
Singers Peter Corry and Ireland's Eurovision contestant, Brian Kennedy, have been confirmed for the funeral ceremony which will be led by TV presenter Eamonn Holmes. The service will include a combination of song, poetry and prayer.
Tributes will be given by Best's former Manchester United ally Dennis Law, his sister Barbara McNarry, and family friend Bobby McAlinden. A guard of honour will be provided by children from Cregagh Football Club - the first club Best played for.
Rumours continued to abound that soccer stars Pele, Johann Cruyff and Maradona would attend.