The FAI has confirmed that full contact outdoor training will be allowed from this Monday 10 May under the new government guidelines.

This will apply to all players at all levels of football in Ireland but training sessions will be restricted to pods of 15 players.

When the government announced its plans for easing Covid-19 restrictions last week it was though that the return to training would be in a non-contact format but Adult Amateur and Youth (U19) teams return to training from Monday and the FAI has confirmed with the government that all teams can engage in contact training.

23 February 2020; Ger McDermott, Club and League Development Manager, FAI, during the FAI Football Fitness Conference 2020 at Johnstown House in Enfield, Co. Meath. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

FAI Head of Grassroots Ger McDermott said: "We have informed all our clubs today of this most welcome news from Government. The return to training for our adult amateur and Youth (U19) teams will now coincide with the return to contact training in pods of 15 for all our players.

"We have updated our Safer Return to Training Protocol to reflect this and have shared this with our clubs and made it available online at www.fai.ie."

McDermott added: "Football has proven itself to be a safe environment for all our players and volunteers through this pandemic and we again thank all our clubs and stakeholders for their commitment and adherence to the Government guidelines.

"We are getting closer to a return to play for all our teams and we thank the Government, the Expert Medical Group and Sport Ireland for their help in getting us to this point."

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