FIFA Harmony Cup 2025 England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Rep of Ireland Plus three invited teams, ie... Gibraltar, Iceland, Faroe New Zealand, Israel, India Group A England N. Ireland New Zealand Iceland Group B Scotland Wales Rep of Ireland Faroe Islands Group Stages Saturday 30th June Windsor Park, Belfast 13:30 Iceland v N. Ireland Croke Park, Dublin 16:00 Rep of Ireland v Faroe Islands Principality Stadium, Cardiff 18:30 Scotland v Wales Wembley Stadium 20:45 England v New Zealand ------------------------------------------------ Sunday 1st July (No matches) Monday 2nd July (No matches) ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday 3rd July Selhurst Park, South London 13:30 New Zealand v Iceland Croke Park, Dublin 16:00 Rep of Ireland v Wales Hampden Park, Glasgow 18:30 Scotland v Faroe Islands Wembley Stadium 20:45 England v N. Ireland ------------------------------------------------ Wednesday 4th July (No matches) Thursday 5th July (No matches) ------------------------------------------------ Friday 6th July Selhurst Park, South-East London 18:00 Northern Ireland v New Zealand The Valley, Charlton, South-East London 18:00 Wales v Faroe Islands Arsenal Stadium, North London 20:00 Scotland v Rep of Ireland Wembley Stadium 20:00 England v Iceland ------------------------------------------------ Saturday 7th July (No matches) Sunday 8th July (No matches) Monday 9th July (No matches) ------------------------------------------------ - Quarters - Tuesday 10th July The Valley, Charlton, South-East London 17:45 Wales v New Zealand Wembley Stadium 20:45 England v Faroe Islands Wednesday 11th July Selhurst Park, South-East London 17:45 Scotland v Iceland Arsenal Stadium, North London 20:45 N. Ireland v Rep of Ireland ------------------------------------------------ - Semis - Saturday 14th July Wembley Stadium 20:00 England v Wales Sunday 15th July Wembley Stadium 20:00 Scotland v Rep of/N. Ireland ------------------------------------------------ - Final - Saturday 21st July Wembley Stadium 20:00 ------------------------------------------------ 18 matches in three weeks. 8 stadiums. Rotation of Main Venues: - 2025: London (England play all their games at Wembley) - 2027: Glasgow (Scotland play all their games at Hampden) - 2029: London - 2031: Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff (Welsh & Irish play at home) - 2033: London - 2035: Glasgow - Etc.
I have wanted to see a return of the "Home Nations" tournament for years but it wouldn't be much of a tournament these days. So I fantasised a new tournament that includes the British nations and Republic of Ireland, plus three other invitational teams, like they do with the Copa America which has invited Japan, Qatar, USA, etc. At first I conceived of a 10-team tournament of two groups of five teams, but I don't think that would work. Faroe, Iceland and New Zealand don't play in tournaments in the odd-numbered years, so I chose them in my outline above. Any thoughts or improvements. If it sounds viable, I'll send it to UEFA and FIFA and see what they think of it. Cheers!
Interesting idea but this surely needs at least one heavyweight such as Brazil or a top European team to counterbalance England and I’m not sure Faroe Islands and New Zealand would be exciting enough to maximise ticket sales or television rights revenue. Replace those with a couple of decent middleweight teams such as (for instance) Croatia or Uruguay and you could be onto something.
Thanks for the feedback. My original idea to have charity cup of English language countries consisting of: England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland USA Canada New Zealand Australia Nigeria/Ghana/South Africa Two groups of five teams, then have quarter finals of the top team in group A facing the fourth-placed team in group B and so on. But the confederation cups are played in the odd-numbered years. The idea is that this would be a "fun tournament" for charity. My desire is mainly to see a return of the British-Irish nations playing each other and also to give smaller nations a chance to play at top level. And it could also be a way to present the case for a Britain-Ireland World Cup bid in 2030, 2034, 2038. Feel free to spitball your ideas!
Charity is a very noble idea but they way modern football is I don't believe clubs and national associations would want to be risking their best players for a fun charity tournament. I'm British born but don't really see the appeal of a Home Nations tournament, seems to me this was only relevant back when England and Scotland were of more or less equal strength and both had some of the best players in the World. You talk of giving smaller nations a chance to play at top level, but of the some the nations you've listed Canada and USA are doing quite a good job of developing their football and these days may even see a charity tournament against the likes of Northern Ireland and Wales as a but underwhelming. The UK has unfortunately confirmed that it's no longer bidding for World Cup 2030 and with regards future bids, I fail to see how the insularity of an "English speaking only" tournament played amongst not particularly exciting teams set up so that England winning is basically a foregone conclusion would make a positive case for a UK & Ireland World Cup bid. If you want a tournament showcasing UK and Ireland as a World Cup venue it needs to have better balanced and more diverse teams.
The British and Irish teams never get to play each other these days and I think it would be very popular to see them all go head to head. It would be great to have USA, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Ghana in the tournament, but they will be playing in their respective confederation cups in the odd-numbered years in summer. I went through various permutations of my proposed tournament and I came to the most simple system. It needs to be an even amount of teams and England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland make up five teams, so you might as well have eight teams, so adding three foreign teams would be ideal, it's just a question of which teams they should be. Jamaica would be fun! But they will be playing in the Gold Cup on odd-numbered years in summer. I just want to see how popular it would be before I contact FIFA.
Has it occurred to you that if the home nations wanted to play one another they would find a way to of their own volition? Have they not had ample opportunity to set something like this up by now? Regarding contacting FIFA, wouldn't it be the respective home nations (and Irish) football associations you'd first have to contact? I'm not one to rubbish other people's ideas but my guess is any response would be along the lines of "Thank you for your proposals, unfortunately we won't be pursuing these due to X, Y, Z....."
The Home Nations Rous Cup ended in 1985 due to hooliganism. Yes, contacting UEFA and the respective associations would be done too. I'm just a laymen who doesn't know how to go about something like this! Thanks again, brother!