FAI hit with €140,000 payment on tax liabilities in 2025, accounts show

An FAI branded corner flag during a Republic of Ireland women training session. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The FAI had to shell out €139,800 in interest and penalties on tax liabilities last year, according to their 2025 financial statements up for discussion at Saturday’s annual general meeting in Cork.

Accounts circulated to members ahead of the AGM at the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs showed that both turnover and profits had reduced for the year.

Revenue dropped by €2.3m from €61.6m in 2024 to €59.3m in 2025 — attributable to the one-off Europa League final hosting fee of €3.5m in the previous year — while profits shrunk from €1.8m to a mere €80,794.

Debt levels are being gradually chipped away at but the year-end saw those liabilities still stand at €38.1m, costing a mammoth €1.55m, the equivalent of €30,000 per week.

In terms of other financial commitments, it was noteworthy that the FAI entered into ‘an amended agreement’ with Fifa to revise the loan repayment schedule and timing of the repayments. The loan is now fully repayable by July 2031, standing at €2.68m, and the association are on record since August of withdrawing their support for embattled Fifa supremo Gianna Infantino.

Relations with Uefa remain strong. There was a similar redrawing of their €4m loan arrangement with the European governing body, with an interest rate at 3.5% per annum agreed from June 2026.

Repayments are currently frozen on the basis that €2m will be repaid in 2028 — the year the FAI anticipate a bonanza from co-hosting the Euros, followed by €1m apiece in 2029 and 2030.

Costs attached to the redundancy programme, which cut the workforce by at least 20%, are quantified at €2.6m, but rose into the near year.

The one item highlighted as material after the accounts date of December 31, 2025, is extra costs attached to moving the recent Uefa Nations League game against Israel out of Dublin to Debrecen in Hungary behind closed doors.

Season ticket and Club Ireland holders were either refunded or offered a credit for 2027 as a result, with the FAI noting the ‘compensation’ amounted to a “non-adjusting event in accordance with Section 32 of FRS 102.” Members attending the gathering are expected to be greeted by protesters from the Stop The Game campaign. 

One board vacancy will have to be filled after Robert Watt, head of the Dublin City Development Company, opted not to seek an extra term as company director.