ireland v france 2024

Republic of Ireland vs France was a two-legged football play-off held on 14 and 18 November 2009 between the national teams of the Republic of Ireland and France as part of the UEFA second round of qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The first match was held on 14 November in Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland, and ended in a 1–0 victory for France with Nicolas Anelka scoring. The second leg, played on 18 November in the Stade de France outside Paris, France, finished 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland (with Robbie Keane scoring). The tie went to extra time and a controversial William Gallas goal enabled by captain Thierry Henry handling the ball twice made the score 2–1 on aggregate and France progressed to the World Cup at the Irish's expense. After the second leg, Henry admitted to Irish defender Richard Dunne that he had illegally handled the ball in the build-up to Gallas' match-winning goal, which had been scored in extra time with 17 minutes remaining. The incident led to calls from the Football Association of Ireland and Government of Ireland to the world governing body FIFA for the result to be set aside and for the game to be replayed, and later for Ireland to be allowed to enter the World Cup as an unprecedented supernumerary 33rd team. Henry, previously seen by many in the sport as a fair footballer, was characterised as cheating, with the incident being compared to Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal, and TIME magazine comparing Henry's goal (sometimes called "Le Hand of God" or "Le Hand of Frog", among other nicknames) to a top ten list of sporting cheats.