MOBILE telecommunications provider 3 will be unveiled as the new sponsor of the Irish football team this afternoon, with the firm replacing the FAI’s long-time commercial backer Eircom with immediate effect.

The company, which is also the title sponsor of the Irish Open golf championship, held last week in Killarney, is believed to have signed up to a deal that, inclusive of tickets and boxes for international games as well as the potential for performance related bonuses, could be worth around €2 million per annum – much the same as O2 spend on their deal with the IRFU.

Eircom, who had been widely expected in recent times to end their decade-long association with the FAI, claim to have spent more than €20 million on a sponsorship that was, at one stage, set to include naming rights on the stadium planned for Citywest.

– Emmet Malone