Ireland's infamous 2002 World Cup coming to the big screen

A film about the events leading up to Ireland’s incendiary 2002 World Cup campaign will begin production this summer, with a huge Hollywood star set to play Mick McCarthy.

‘Saipan’ will star BAFTA-nominated Cork native Éanna Hardwicke as former Ireland captain Roy Keane, with two-time Oscar nominee Steve Coogan to play the silver-haired McCarthy.

The film will retell the fateful events surrounding the Saipan incident, a public spat in May 2002 between the two figures as the Republic of Ireland prepared in Saipan ahead of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The result of the spat was a Keane-less Irish squad and a divided public back home.

Award-winning filmmakers Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn (‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Ordinary Love’) are set to direct from an original script by Paul Fraser (‘Heartlands’, ‘A Room For Romeo Brass’).

The film is set for theatrical release in summer 2025.

Directors Barros D’Sa and Leyburn said: “We’re thrilled to be working with this extraordinary cast and creative team to tell the story of an infamous moment in Irish and football history that drew battle lines across a nation, cast its hopes, dreams, and sense of identity into disarray, and briefly made a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific one of the most famous places on earth.”

‘Saipan’ will be made in association with Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, with a shoot set for Ireland and Saipan later this summer.

Producers Macdara Kelleher and John Keville said: “A million words have been written about what happened on that fateful week in 2002 on the tiny island of Saipan. Next year audiences will finally get to experience first-hand the feud between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy and why it was labelled ‘the worst preparation for a World Cup campaign ever’.”