Uefa launch measures to prevent ‘something like Ireland’ happening again

A senior Uefa source told the Irish Examiner that the organisation accepts that it had “dropped the ball with Ireland” by not realising the true extent of the debts amassed by the FAI

In December 2019 investigators revealed the misreporting of liabilities at the FAI by approximately €40m for 2017, along with debts uncovered of €55m for the following financial year. Picture: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE

Uefa has introduced tighter financial measures across European football, arising from the near-collapse of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

Europe’s governing body has issued stringent directives in how national associations must report their finances in future, with changes in place to ensure that federations can no longer misreport financial affairs as happened in Dublin.