FAI CEO Jonathan Hill has stated on Thursday morning that Stephen Kenny will not lose his job before the conclusion of Ireland's Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Ireland will play Greece and Gibraltar in the next international window in October, before ending their campaign against the Netherlands in Amsterdam in November.
Even though Ireland will play those three games, the chances of reaching the tournament in Germany will be next to zero, unless other results go their way.
Kenny, who has one win in this qualifying campaign, has come under huge pressure for his failures to guide Ireland to the Euros.
Despite chatter about his potential exit growing stronger with every poor result, the FAI has confirmed that Kenny will see out the rest of the qualifying process.
"While we might not have achieved the results we hoped for during this campaign, with qualification for the tournament set as a goal at the outset, I know the managers and players are fully focused on the remaining matches this year – and they will prepare for and deliver those matches accordingly," said Hill at a media briefing on Thursday.
Stephen Kenny to remain in charge of senior men's team until conclusion of Euro 2024 qualifying campaign and New Zealand Friendly in November, after which the board will review pic.twitter.com/NWkhf1Lej3
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 14, 2023
The FAI boss also confirmed that Kenny's tenure and the campaign will be subject to an 'in-depth review,' just like the Women's World Cup and Vera Pauw's future was this year.
"Once those matches are played, as with the women's World Cup campaign, we will then conduct an in-depth review of the campaign in its entirety and after the final friendly match in November against New Zealand. The board will then meet to consider this review and the next steps," he added.
Kenny, speaking after Ireland's defeat to the Netherlands on Sunday, also commented on his future with Ireland.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m contracted until the end of the campaign,” he said. “That’s my contract. So, absolutely," he said after the 2-1 loss to the Netherlands.
“But we don’t know if there is a play-off. So we don’t know if that is the case. We’re unsure if that is the case. So I can’t really make statements about the play-off because we don’t know whether we are in it or not.
“From my point of view, I’m not thinking about that now. I’m just disappointed we can’t finish in the top two. It’s gut-wrenching.”
