FAI ‘acted in best interests of Irish football’

The Football Association of Ireland has issued details of the Fifa €5m payoff, while its board maintains it acted at “all times in the best interests of Irish football, and in full compliance with Irish company law”.

The FAI said on November 19, 2009, following the World Cup play-offs, it sent letters to Fifa and the French Football Federation to request that the match be replayed.

After getting a negative reply, the FAI threatened to refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport .

On November 27, FAI officials, including John Delaney, met with Fifa’s Sepp Blatter “to raise the hurt caused to the Irish people by what had happened, the damage done to football, and the changes the FAI felt should be made to prevent similar occurrences happening in the future”.

On November 30, Mr Blatter made a joke of the FAI’s request to be the 33rd team at the World Cup, which the FAI said was in breach of agreed confidentiality.

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The FAI statement said the following January, Blatter apologised for the remarks and after some negotiation offered a €5m interest free loan by way of compensation as well as a $400,000 (€360,000) Goal Project grant that was used for FAI Regional Football Centres .

The €5m was lodged into the FAI’s National Irish Bank deposit account on January 20 and accounted for in the 2010 audited financial statements.

The statement added: “This funding was used to make payments to the Aviva Stadium management company in February 25 and March of 2010, totalling €6,772,711.25.”

The FAI sought a €5m writedown from Fifa on numerous occasions. In 2011 the loan was reduced to €4m and then written off as a result of non-qualification for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

The FAI said all the information about the transactions is contained in its Deloitte audited accounts. The payment attracted international criticism. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the situation was quite extraordinary and called for “full transparency”.

Sports Minister Paschal Donohoe added to those calls, and said: “I can assure you that I had no knowledge of this transaction. I would be very surprised if any of my predecessors were aware of it either.”

John Delaney’s predecessor as FAI chief executive, Fran Rooney, said the loan deal put both Fifa and the FAI in “a bad light”, while Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis called for Mr Delaney to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Sport.