It has been nominated as the Georgians preferred neutral venue for the World Cup qualifier. Mainz's Stadion am Bruchweg has a capacity of around 10,000. It will be the venue for Giovanni Trapattoni's first competitive game as Ireland manager.
A Fifa statement said
"After carefully assessing the situation, the Bureau of the Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa today decided that the preliminary competition match between Georgia and Republic of Ireland will take place at a neutral venue due to the current unrest in Georgia.
"Although the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) had hoped to host this match at home in Tbilisi, it will now be played in Mainz, Germany on the originally scheduled date of 6 September 2008, with Georgia acting as the host association."