FAI president Paul Cooke: 'I worked in media for 35 years and thought journalists were meant to be balanced and reflect both sides

POLITICAL FOOTBALL: FAI President Paul Cooke, left, and FAI chief executive officer David Courell at the Nations League B match between Israel and the Republic of Ireland at Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

FAI president Paul Cooke has come out fighting about the association’s handling of the weekend Israel debacle, claiming it was caused by external media pressure.

Dating back to last November, Cooke and his board were adamant Ireland would fulfil games against a country found guilty of genocide by the United Nations.

That stance was reaffirmed once the teams were paired together in the Nations League draw in February but the games could have been boycotted had a player vote done so on the eve of the first game in Debrecen.

The teams are due to play again next Sunday, also on neutral territory, this time in Serbia, for Ireland’s ‘home’ fixture.

Cooke cited a vote passed by their General Assembly in July which concluded the repercussions for Irish football were too grave to risk. The FAI laid out a litany of potential sanctions on the top of the six points being forfeited.

Uefa has previously issued a small fine to Latvia when their women’s senior team handed walkovers to Belarus on account of refusing to face a nation linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I think we've handled the week quite well,” said the FAI president after the 3-0 win.

“I think the week went as well as could be expected in the face of, I would say, unprecedented coverage and the way some people conducted themselves. And I'm not referring to anybody in the camp.” 

When asked to elaborate, the former managing director of the Irish Daily Star and Business Post went on the attack.

An emotional Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson talks about the last 24 hours following 3-0 win over Israel. pic.twitter.com/vQw8SE2uag

— John Fallon (@JFallonExaminer) September 27, 2026

“I am referring to the way some of you have behaved in some respects with the pressure and the way some stories have been chased.

“I worked in the media for 35 years and I thought journalists were meant to be balanced and reflect two sides of an opinion.

“I have never seen an article stating the case for playing the game.

“Everybody was just picking holes in it. The reality here is we all know what the sanctions will be, which is two 3-0 defeats.

“And then there's undetermined sanctions.” 

Those potentials, according to the FAI’s pitch to members, extended up to potentially losing Euro 2028 co-hosting rights.

“Uefa never communicates anything specifically,” he added.

“All I can do is deal with what's best for football, which is what I've tried to do all my life. All the time I've been involved in the FAI. That's all I've tried to do.

“And that's what I hope to do every day when I'm talking to people about football.” 

Cooke defended their immovable stance from the get-go and failure to consult players until the summer.

Bazunu wasn’t even asked for his opinion before being named in this latest squad.

“We're a football organisation and the organisation makes the decision,” he claimed.

“It could have changed (yesterday) but we could have different players in the camp earlier in the year.

“We move on one game at a time. Next up is Austria and we’ll look at Israel after that.”