FIFA €5m based on Henry handball, Blatter comments and seeding the draw: FAI

The FAI has said a €5m payment from FIFA was accounted for in its financial statements for 2010.

FAI chief executive John Delaney said the payment was not specifically disclosed because of a condifentiality agreement with the governing body of world football.

John Delaney said the FAI's legal claim against FIFA was partly based on the decision by football's governing body to seed the draw weeks before the playoffs in 2009, as well as on Thierry Henry's infamous handball which helped knock Ireland out of the World Cup playoff.

The FAI said that Sepp Blatter also caused "reputational damage" to the FAI when he made a joke about Ireland's bid to the "33rd World Cup team".

Mr Delaney said the meeting which ended with agreement on the payment had been supposed to remain confidential, and was a good deal for Irish football.

The €5m payment made by FIFA is described in documentation as an “inducement” to end any possible legal challenge over Ireland's controversial elimination from qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

The FAI has published a copy of a confidentiality agreement it reached with FIFA after it had confronted president Sepp Blatter over Ireland’s World Cup play-off exit in 2009.

The document states: “On or before January 15, 2010, FIFA and FAI have entered into a loan agreement over €5m as an inducement for the FAI to enter into this agreement.

"Further, the FAI will receive an additional Goal Project in the amount of $400,000 Goal Project grant that was used for FAI Regional Football Centres.”

A timeline released yesterday evening by the FAI reveals that the money was received two months after the Thierry Henry handball in the Ireland-France play-off and used to make payments on the Aviva Stadium, although no other specifics were revealed regarding the nature of the payment.

Read:

Read More:

Timeline and bank statements of FIFA’s payment to the FAI released