Breaking Vera Pauw's Ireland reign ends as FAI opt for new direction

Vera Pauw's reign as manager of the Republic of Ireland is over after the FAI decided not to offer the Dutch woman a new contract.

Her latest deal expires at the end of the month, and while she was hopeful of staying on for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games and subsequent Euro 2025 qualifiers, the association has chosen to go in a new direction.

The FAI board met on Tuesday to discuss a full report on the team's World Cup qualification campaign and the tournament itself. Afterwards, they came to a decision to part company with the 60-year-old.

In a brief statement issued by Irish football's governing body, chief executive Jonathan Hill said: "On behalf of the Football Association of Ireland, we would like to thank Vera for her hard work and commitment over the past four years and wish her well for the future.

"In particular, I wish to acknowledge the role she played in leading Ireland to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 where our women’s team made history and inspired a nation.

"The future is bright for women and girls’ football and our focus now is building upon the work done by Vera and the historic achievements of our women’s team, which we see as a platform to support the next phase of the journey for the team, and more broadly the development of women and girls’ football in this country."

Pauw succeeded Colin Bell as boss back in September 2019. After missing out on the play-offs for Euro 2022, she led the Girls in Green to a first ever World Cup thanks to a famous play-off win over Scotland at Hampden Park.

Ireland failed to make the knockout stages but they performed well at the tournament, losing narrowly to co-hosts Australia and Olympic champions Canada before drawing 0-0 with Nigeria.

However, Pauw had other