John Delaney in favour of plan to expand World Cup to 48 teams

FAI chief executive John Delaney has given his backing to Fifa’s controversial expansion of the World Cup finals from 32 to 48 teams in 2026.

“In theory, I and the FAI would be supportive of increasing the number of teams to 48 but we have meetings in Uefa next Monday and Tuesday to find out how that affects Uefa,” he said yesterday.

“At the moment, 13 countries from Europe get to the World Cup of 24 so how many extra slots would that mean for Uefa? If I was really being frank with you, any opportunity that gives Ireland a greater opportunity to get to a World Cup in theory or in principle I would support.”

Referencing the FAI’s support for the expansion of the 2016 European Championship finals, he said: “It has proved a big success to go from 16 teams to 24. It didn’t affect the quality of the competition at all.

“For countries like ourselves, the Norways, the Scotlands, Northern Ireland, Iceland, it’s difficult to get to major tournaments. It’s important that we do, first of all to celebrate like we did in the summer with our great supporters, and to do well for a sense of national pride.”

Speaking at a Joint Committee On Transport, Tourism and Sport meeting in Leinster House, the FAI CEO also addressed the divisive format change in the domestic game, with the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland set to become two tiers of ten teams in 2018.

“You’ll never get a unanimous view on what a structure should be,” he acknowledged, “but we did this in a very independent way, through an independent report by Declan Conroy, and then we asked the clubs for their position and they voted in the majority to make it a 10 and 10.”

He added that he understood that First Division clubs — who have been among the most vociferously opposed to a restructuring which will see three teams relegated and only one promoted, with no play-offs, at the end of this season — did not have a vote in the decision which was taken by Premier Division clubs.

Asked about the prize money on offer in the League of Ireland, Delaney said: “It’s not just about prize money, it’s what you do for the clubs.”

He went on to outline the FAI’s role in being “significantly involved in saving Dalymount Park” as well as investments the governing body has made in other grounds around the country.

“What we need from this chamber and from broader government is more investment in infrastructure for the League of Ireland,” he stressed, “because if you have better facilities you have a greater chance of getting more people into the grounds.”

Catherine Murphy TD sought clarity on whether the infamous €5m payment which the FAI received from Fifa on foot of the Thierry Henry handball saga had been a loan.

“It was obviously a contentious matter,” Delaney accepted. “What I will say is all that money was properly accounted for and signed off by our auditors.”

But he was also at pains, in response to a question from another TD, to put distance between himself and the man who sanctioned the payment, disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

“Yes, we were all disappointed at how events turned out at Fifa,” Delaney said, adding with a smile, “and I wouldn’t describe Sepp Blatter as a good friend of mine.

“We voted for the new president Gianni Infantino who is bringing in some reforms in Fifa at the moment and I’m hoping that more reforms will come. The brand of Fifa was very much damaged by the events and I think they will unfold still over the next period of time as certain cases take place.”

Asked about pay cuts among FAI staff, he said the organisation had now begun restoring wages which had been cut “during more difficult times”, adding: “I think the staff in the FAI love what they do because to be paid to be involved in association football is something that’s a privilege for them. And I believe we have got a very good staff who work day in day out, particularly our development officers, in every part of this country.”

With the format of the committee meeting leading to the bundling of many questions, there was little opportunity for follow-up enquiries before the FAI boss was facilitated in leaving the proceedings early in order to attend a remembrance event in Abbotstown for the late Milo Corcoran.

But in briefly addressing other issues, he urged government to bring in legislation to make ticket touting illegal in this country and also said that he doesn’t support moves towards gender quotas in sports governance.

“I don’t see the requirement for gender quotas,” he said. “Rather than do tokenism, you’re better off doing real stuff and making it happen. And if you study the Association I think there’s no doubt that we’ve achieved a lot of success in women’s football.”