FAI nets €4.5m profit from Euro 2016 participation

The FAI made a profit of about €4.5 million from its participation at Euro 2016, it has been revealed, with the rest of the €11 million it earned in prize money going on travel costs, general expenses and bonuses to players and members of the management team.

The money helped to take the association’s turnover to €50.4 million during the calendar year – a modest increase of about €3.4 million on 2015, although the organisation’s director of finance, Eamon Breen, explained that the prize money had been split evenly between the two accounting periods due to the costs – mainly bonus payments – incurred immediately after qualification for the tournament was achieved.

Breen said that the profit had been mainly used to “strengthen the balance sheet” of the association which, he said, is “entering a stronger period financially”, despite still carrying some €39 million in stadium-related debt.

About €5 million of that is owed to Uefa who lent about twice that amount to the association a few years back, with the rest due to Bank of Ireland with whom the organisation refinanced their loan on the Aviva Stadium in June of last year.

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The debt was moved from Corporate Capital Trust and although John Delaney never publicly confirmed the widely held belief that the association was paying well above normal interest rates as part of that arrangement, some sense of what was involved is provided by the fact that Breen now says that it will save some €2.7 million in interest per annum under the terms of the current deal.

Scepticism

Over the course of 2016 it paid €4.74 million in interest and other charges, almost 10 per cent of its total revenue.

Both men were upbeat about the next few years at Wednesday’s presentation at Abbotstown, Dublin, however, with Delaney adamant once again that the association is in a position to pay off the debt in its entirety by 2020 “if it chooses to do so”.

That claim has generally been met with scepticism over the last few years – it used to be presented as a far firmer commitment to being debt free – and it would still be quite an achievement considering the organisation took €24 million off the debt between 2010 and 2016. Delaney, though, points to the renewal of deals relating to the naming rights of Lansdowne Road, the various 10-year ticket and box deals as well as some television rights and commercial contracts as giving it significant room for manoeuvre.

Almost a decade after he had suggested the first sale of the naming rights, seats and boxes would essentially pay off the debt and so pave the way for this time around to provide something of a bonanza, he is likely to feel the need to increase the association’s spending if that is possible and so, one way or the other, the mortgage might well be around for another few years.

Staff numbers at the association increased by 15 during 2016 although total wages and salaries fell by more than €1 million to €10.32 million or about €56,740 per employee, although most earn far less than that.

Delaney’s salary is apparently unchanged and he declined to comment on attempts by Siptu, who represent a significant number of staff, to have pay cuts imposed when the association was struggling reversed, other than to say that he had just come from talks on the matter and that “I’m hopeful these matters can be resolved in the correct way without getting into the public domain”.

In the wake of his election to the executive committee of Uefa he has, he revealed, been appointed as chair of the organisation’s youth and amateur football committee and vice chair of the women’s committee.

Boost the women’s game

He said that he hopes to use the latter role to help boost the women’s game here with increased participation at all levels an ongoing priority.

“I would intend to use the role as vice chair of the women’s game to increase the number of women in football in Europe but also to help matters back in Ireland in terms of growing numbers.

“It’s good for Irish football that a member of the organisation is represented on the board of Uefa. What I want to do with those specific roles and the board role is make sure you improve football in Europe but also to assist back in Ireland .”

On the Fifa disciplinary case against Martin O’Neill and James McClean over the pair’s comments in the wake of the Austria game, he said that the association had made submissions to the effect that the pair regretted what they had said. A decision is expected soon after the relevant committee meets on July 20th, but he said he hoped it wouldn’t result in any bans in terms of matches.

Director of competitions Fran Gavin, meanwhile, said that there is one more person to be interviewed before the report into allegations relating to possible match fixing at Athlone can be concluded and that it will not be published this week.

The line-up for the national Under-15 league will be announced on Monday when there is likely to considerable controversy if, as it widely rumoured they will be, St Kevin’s Boys are granted a place.