Four League of Ireland clubs land €156,000 bonus from Uefa Financial Fair Play

Four League of Ireland clubs are to benefit to the tune of €156,000 from Uefa’s policy of dispersing fines received from Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches.

A number of high-profile clubs like Manchester City, PSG, Inter Milan and Roma have been hit with sanctions in recent years arising from the European governing body’s drive to curb overspending in the club game.

As a consequence, Derry City, Dundalk, Sligo Rovers, and St Patrick’s Athletic are to each receive €38,970 as they were Ireland’s European competition representatives during the 2014/15 season the fines were imposed for.

St Patrick’s Athletic, as League champions, competed in the Uefa Champions League second qualifying round, while Derry City, Dundalk, and Sligo Rovers each made it through to the Uefa Europa League second qualifying round.

Dundalk have since earned significant cash through participating in the current Champions League campaign, the first year of the enlarged prize fund.

Despite the Lilywhites exiting at the first hurdle against BATE Borisov, they pocketed €550,000, the same minimum amount due to them for securing their place in next year’s competition.

The income, therefore, will be far more noticeable in the coffers of St Pat’s, Derry City and Sligo Rovers.

The latter pair failed to clinch European spots from the season just ended, meaning €38,970 should represent a significant portion of their budget.

That the sum to each club is almost 40% of the prize-money on offer for winning the Premier Division highlights the reliance by League clubs on Uefa windfalls.

St Pat’s manager Liam Buckley has described funding from the FAI as “negligible”.

All 20 clubs are to collect around €11,000 under a new partnership with the FAI and Austrian company Trackchamp entailing all games being streamed live to overseas markets.