The all-island football competition, the Unite the Union Champions Cup, has been postponed until 2022.
The competition is due to feature four teams, the winners of the Airtricity League Premier Division and Northern Ireland’s Danske Bank Premiership plus the next best placed sides in each league. Shamrock Rovers, St Pat’s, Linfield and Coleraine would have been the ones to take part.
The semi-finals and finals were set for November and early December.
The first iteration of the cup took place in 2019 Dundalk beat Linfield 7-1 in a two-legged final. Since then, it has been expanded to four teams after the pandemic forced the postponement of the 2020 version.
With the worsening Covid-19 situation on either side of the border, both the FAI and the IFA have agreed to Unite the Union’s request to postpone once again.
Unite the union Deputy regional secretary Davy Thompson thanked both governing bodies for accepting the request:
“While this was a decision we hoped we would not have to take, we believe it is the responsible approach given the current pressures on our health services.
“Unite has stood in solidarity with our health services throughout this pandemic, and we feel that a major cross-border event such as the Champions Cup could potentially place an additional burden on healthcare workers.
“We would like to thank the associations and clubs for the joint decision taken today. We also want to take this opportunity to thank all those working on the front line for their continuing dedication to the public.”
