Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill says Champions League final referee Istvan Kovacs should not have awarded Slovakia’s goal or sent off Dan Ballard in the visitors’ 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat on Friday.
Slovakia saw goals from Lukas Haraslin and David Strelec ruled out in the second half before Tomas Bobcek’s 91st-minute winner set the hosts up for a decider in the race for automatic qualification in Germany on Monday, with Sunderland centre-back Ballard then showing a second soft-looking warning and O’Neill booking after full-time.
“It’s clearly a foul on Daniel,” O’Neill told BBC Sport of the goal. “It’s a foul, it’s not given and the goal stands.
“The yellow card for Daniel is just a joke. When you look at the incident, it’s poor. We feel a bit wronged because of that.”
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Slovakia vs Northern Ireland: O’Neill questions the referee
Romanian Kovacs officiated in Paris Saint-Germain’s win over Inter in last season’s Champions League final and Atalanta’s win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2024 Europa League final, having been the fourth official in Manchester City’s win over Inter in the 2023 Champions League final.
“He’s a great referee, he refereed the Champions League final,” O’Neill said, adding that a video assistant referee (VAR) check should have taken place on the goal.
“If you look back there’s a blatant push behind Daniel Ballard and that’s where the goal was scored from.
“It’s painful to lose the match like we did because we feel like we were beaten by a goal that shouldn’t have stood. That’s what VAR is there for. [resolve].
“The referee didn’t go and check, so we can’t do anything about it. We have to look at each incident individually, it can’t be cumulative.
“It can’t be, ‘Well, I turned those two down, so I have to be a little lenient on that.’ You have to look at each individual on their own merit – and, on their own merit, this goal should have been turned down.”
Northern Ireland World Cup qualifying play-offs
Northern Ireland will finish third in Group A and play a two-legged tie to reach next year’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico as they will be one of the highest-ranked Nations League group winners in European qualifying.
“We were missing some big players, but I think the players who came in did brilliantly,” O’Neill said.
“We’re in the play-offs, and that’s the main thing. We came here and wanted to finish second in the group… we have to congratulate Slovakia, who are going to Germany with a chance to win the group.”
The Green and White Army wrap up their home group match against point-less Luxembourg on Monday (7:45 p.m. GMT / 12:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 a.m. PT).
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2026 World Cup Qualifiers Dates
The best team from each of the 12 European qualifying groups automatically advances to the final, which will be expanded to 48 teams.
The 12 finalists from each group will join four Nations League teams in the two-legged play-offs, which will be drawn into pots based on the teams’ records during the campaign and will take place on March 26 and 31, 2026.
When will the draw for the final phase of the 2026 World Cup take place?
The draw for the World Cup final will take place on December 5, 2025 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, with the ceremony starting at 5:00 p.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. ET/ 09:00 a.m. PT).
The tournament runs from June 11 to July 19, 2026.
Line-ups for Northern Ireland vs Slovakia
Northern Ireland have suffered numerous injury problems, with first-choice goalkeeper Pierce Charles still unavailable and his brother, midfielder Shea, missing from midfield with a hamstring problem.
Ali McCann was absent with a broken arm and his compatriot Ethan Galbraith was banned. Defender Brodie Spencer was absent, but Liverpool full-back Conor Bradley returned from suspension as captain.
Dion Charles replaced Jamie Reid, with Ruairi McConville in defense and Brad Lyons and George Saville in midfield.
North Ireland starting XI: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Trai Hume, Daniel Ballard, Ruairi McConville, Paddy McNair, Justin Devenny, Conor Bradley, George Saville, Brad Lyons, Isaac Price, Dion Charles
Northern Ireland substitutes: Luke Southwood, Conor Hazard, Jamal Lewis, Terry Devlin, Callum Marshall, Jamie Donley, Paul Smyth, Jamie Reid, Patrick Kelly, Jamie McDonnell, Josh Magennis, Ciaron Brown
