/world sport
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Georgia's World Cup qualifier against Ireland will be played in the German city of Mainz, FIFA said on Thursday.
Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni will take his men to Germany for the Georgia tie.
It is the third scheduled venue for the September 6 match, which had to be moved from Tbilisi because the Georgian capital was judged unsafe during the country's territorial dispute with Russia.
Georgian football federation officials planned to use Karlsruhe's Wildparkstadion but the German Bundesliga club said Wednesday it could not host the game at such short notice.
Georgia then reached an agreement with German second flight club FSV Mainz to use its 20,000-capacity Bruchweg stadium.
The match against Ireland will be the first for both nations in Group 8 of European qualifying for the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Georgia travel to play world champions Italy in Udine on Sept. 10, and are scheduled to return to Tbilisi in October for qualifiers against Cyprus and Bulgaria.
FIFA will decide at a later date if the capital is safe to stage international games.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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