Fears of TV blackout for key football play-off

IRISH football fans could be facing a TV blackout in the crucial World Cup play-off with France because of a major financial feud between the FAI and its French counterparts.

With little more than a week to go before the vital second-leg showdown at the Stade de France in Paris, Irish TV broadcasting rights for the match have yet to be secured.

Under FIFA rules, the home nation for each leg of the two-game play-off has the right to negotiate the price of the match it is hosting.

The FAI has already pocketed more than €4 million after selling the French rights to the first leg at Croke Park this Saturday.

However, because of an apparent FAI snub of French state station TF1 – which lost out on the first-leg match to private entertainment channel M6 – the Fédération Francaise de Football (FFF) is refusing to lower its asking price for the second leg to meet Irish TV station budgets.

While neither are revealing details, the FFF is believed to be seeking €1.5m for the game.

RTÉ is still in negotiations but is understood to be refusing to pay more than €600,000, a figure TV3 is unlikely to be able to afford.

The stand-off raises the possibility that the game, which may ultimately decide whether Giovanni Trapattoni’s team qualifies for the World Cup in South Africa, could fail to be shown on terrestrial Irish TV.

A final decision must be made within 48 hours of the tie.

Meanwhile, at least 20,000 Irish fans are expected to descend on Paris next Wednesday – despite only 8,500 tickets being officially allocated to travelling supporters.

In an attempt to reduce Irish numbers at the crunch match, the FFF has refused to provide more than the 10% mandatory ticket quota to travelling Irish fans, a move French manager Raymond Domenech described as “the first victory” of the tie.

However, the FAI, travel agents and supporters groups believe at least 20,000 will descend on Paris, with large numbers of French fans’ tickets being sold unofficially.