From just looking across all of the Countries, we are pleased to showcase GAA has reached Countries such as: Burma, Thailand, Taiwan, Oman, Croatia, Hungary, Russia and Occitania, just to name a few. Overall there are 45 Nations that partake in GAA around the World, in all 6 Continents. We were thinking, how would it work. Firstly, Ireland would of course be the host Nation. Games would be played all around the Island of Ireland with games being played in Fitzgerald Stadium, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Pearse Stadium, Casement Park, MacHale Park, Nowlan Park, Celtic Park and of course the final being held in Croke Park.

We broke it down and used all 45 teams, as this is an invitational tournament and a celebration of Gaelic football and hurling. For the purposes of this article, our GAA World Cup is focusing on Gaelic Football. We broke it down using challonge.com to predict the brackets and please find below a break down of the first two rounds of the tournament.

Let’s focus on Round One, it has thrown up some interesting ties, that are difficult to predict. Asia meets Europe in the battle between Norway and Qatar to play host to New Zealand in the next round, after the Kiwi’s get a bye, the winners of whom will face either Scotland or South Korea in the next round.

Following on from Norway and Qatar, Luxembourg and Oman face off against each other to win a place in the next round to play Vietnam. It is an all European affair in Round One next, with Germany playing Spain to get a chance to face off against France in the next round. Africa’s representative South Africa makes their debut against Japan in Round One, before one of them moves onto play Denmark in the next round.

Another all European affair again, with Hungary playing off against Belgium to get a chance to play one of the big sides in the tournament England, who fortunately for them, get a bye into the next round. An all Asia affair follows on from the all European affair with Burma facing off against Saudi Arabia for a chance to face Thailand.

The big news is that Ireland as hosts, do not get a bye into the next round and will have to do it the hard way. They will have to face off against Russia before, if successful at getting past the Russians playing host to Occitania. Another big name for the tournament Australia, will also be in the same boat as Ireland is which they do not get a bye and will start the tournament, by playing the UAE before if getting past the United Arab Emirates, facing Taiwan in the next round.

Whoever wins the game against Taiwan, they move onto the next round facing off against Switzerland or Gibraltar who face each other in Round 2.

Following on from all of that, China and Netherlands face off against one another in Round One for a chance to face Finland in Round Two. The South American representative Argentina make their debut against Austria in Round One before one moves onto face Malaysia in Round 2.

There is another all Asian affair as the Philippines face Bahrain for a chance to play Poland in the next round. Croatia and Sweden play each other in an all Europe affair to play the Czech Republic in the following round. Wales and Singapore play off against each other to play Italy in Round 2 and finally Canada play host to Indonesia for a chance to play one of the favourites USA in Round 2.

So, there you have it the first instalment of the GAA World Cup. We want you to predict the next few rounds and who eventually wins the whole competition. Will it be Ireland, USA, Australia or England or will one of the minnows cause an upset? Let us know here.