It appears that Northern Ireland definitely will not be competing at Euro 2008.
The Irish Football Association (IFA) had hoped that recent troubles at the Spanish Football Association could see the team progress through default.
It followed a warning issued by Uefa to the Spanish FA that they could be kicked out of the competition if the country's government attempted to interfere with the organisation's presidential election.
However, the Spanish FA has acted on the warning and voted on Monday to ignore any influence from the government.
It means that any slim hopes Northern Ireland had of qualifying for the tournament in Austria and Switzerland now appear to be dashed.
The team finished third in their group, missing out to Sweden in second and Spain in first spot.
Had Spain been disqualified from Euro 2008, Sweden would have qualified as group winners, while Northern Ireland would have gone through as runners up.
© Copyright
21 October 2010
21 October 2010
21 October 2010
20 October 2010
20 October 2010
