Sat 22 February 2014, 13:34
Tottenham HotspurOur legendary former goalkeeper Pat Jennings says he feels honoured after being selected to be involved in the draw ceremony for UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying in France on Sunday.
The former Northern Ireland international, who spent 13 seasons at White Hart Lane from June, 1964, to August, 1977, will be joined on stage by 12 other goalkeeping greats from across the continent as the 53 qualifying nations are divided up into nine groups.
The ceremony itself – taking place in Nice on Sunday at 11am – will be presented by outfield legends Ruud Gullit and Bixente Lizarazu, along with UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino. They’ll be joined by an all-star cast of stoppers including Pat, decorated French number one Fabien Barthez and Germany’s EURO ‘96 winner Andreas Köpke.
Portugal’s Vítor Baía, Russia’s Rinat Dasaev, Spain’s José Ángel Iribar, Greece’s Antonis Nikopolidis, Belgium’s Jean-Marie Pfaff and Denmark’s Peter Schmeichel are also involved, along with Czech stopper Ivo Viktor, Polish keeper Jan Tomaszewski, Dutchman Hans van Breukelen and Italian Dino Zoff.
“It’s a tremendous honour to be asked to be involved along with some truly great goalkeepers from down the years,” said Pat, who remains on our staff as Goalkeeping Consultant.
“Northern Ireland as a team have never done particularly well at the European Championships, although I’ve played for us in two World Cups in 1982 and 1986.
“We actually beat West Germany at home and away in 1983 and still didn’t qualify for the European Championship finals the following year, which was obviously a disappointment.
“But I’m very much looking forward to being part of the draw process for EURO 2016 qualifying this weekend.”
During his playing days, Pat was Northern Ireland's goalkeeper for 22 years, winning a then world-record 119 caps for his country.
Domestically, he played 596 matches in our colours - scoring one goal against Manchester United in the 1967 Charity Shield – and only Steve Perryman has featured more times for the club.
He won an FA Cup winners’ medal that year, as well as League Cup winners’ medals in 1971 and 1973 and a UEFA Cup winners’ medal in 1972.
