The Uefa Super Cup will be contested by Chelsea and Villarreal on 11 AugustIrish FA President David Martin believes the Uefa Super Cup will be one of the biggest matches played in Northern Ireland in recent history.
It was confirmed on Thursday that the game between Chelsea and Villarreal, Champions League and Europa League winners respectively, will be played at Windsor Park as planned on 11 August.
Uefa considered moving the game to Istanbul as a compensation measure after the Champions League final was switched from the Turkish city to Porto because of coronavirus restrictions.
Details on attendance and ticketing arrangements for the game are still to be finalised, but Martin is hopeful that a “big, big crowd” can be at the National Stadium.
“This is massive for Northern Ireland, massive for the country, massive for the Irish Football Association and the game here,” he said.
“It is the biggest game in the history of our sport here in Northern Ireland, certainly in recent times, and we would like to see a big, big crowd at the national stadium.
“We will not know exactly how many supporters we will have in the stadium but what we do know is that supporters are being allowed into stadia throughout the UK and there are high hopes that a considerable number of supporters make the semi-final and final of the Euros in July. We are a month further down the line.
“All Covid issues will of course be taken into consideration but this is a time when we have to hope that things will be relaxed more and we can have a high percentage of people can attend in August.
“I am not putting a percentage on it, we have two and a half months to come so let’s see what happens between now and then.”
This season’s Champions League final was the second successive year that the decider was moved from Istanbul to Portugal.
Hosting the Super Cup fixture on 11 August was understood to be among the compensation measures offered to the Turkish football authorities by Uefa.