FAI poised for €40m TV rights windfall

IRISH soccer is poised for a massive €40m windfall as UEFA chiefs put the finishing touches to plans to pool match television rights among its 53 member associations.

The proposed agreement, which should be ratified at today’s UEFA annual congress in Paris, will considerably ease the FAI’s financial pressures when introduced in 2014. And it will ensure the Association is good to its pledge to meet a 2020 debt wipe-out, according to chief executive John Delaney.

Delaney has been a vocal advocate of centralised TV rights, and is part of a UEFA working group that brought the proposal to executive level.