Fifa confirms $5m payment to FAI following Henry handball

The game's governing body says it loaned the FAI money to aid the construction of a stadium but wrote off the loan after the national team failed to qualify for World Cup 2010.Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney has confirmed that the FAI were paid a large figure by Fifa to deter the association from proceeding with a legal case following Thierry Henry's handball in the 2010 World Cup playoff with France.Henry's handball lead to a goal which helped France defeat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 to advance to the World Cup finals in South Africa, and Delaney believed that the FAI had a legitimate claim to bring Fifa to court over the matter.However, a legal case was not lodged as then Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Delaney agreed a substantial payoff, reported to be in the region of €5 million.
We felt we had a legal case against Fifa because of how the World Cup play-off hadn’t worked out for us with the Henry handball,” Delaney told RTE Radio.Also the way Blatter behaved, if you remember on stage, having a snigger and having a laugh at us. That day when I went in, and I told him how I felt about him, there were some expletives used. We came to an agreement.That was a Thursday and on Monday the agreement was all signed and all done. It’s a very good agreement for the FAI and a very legitimate agreement for the FAI.Delaney would not deny that the amount received was €5m, but was pleased with the outcome of the agreement. I’m bound by confidentiality for naming the figure, Delaney said.You’ve put a figure out there and fair play to you. It was a payment to the association to not proceed with a legal case. In there they signed a confidentiality agreement where I can’t talk about the amount involved.You used a figure there, well done to you, but it was a very good and legitimate deal for the FAI.Fifa has issued a statement in response to Delaney's claims. On November 18 2009, there was a play-off match between France and the Republic of Ireland for a place in the 2010 World Cup finals. During the match, a handball by France's Thierry Henry led indirectly to a goal against the Irish team. Ireland did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals, it reads.While the Referee's decision is final, and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) ultimately accepted it as such, in January 2010 FIFA entered into an agreement with FAI in order to put an end to any claims against FIFA. FIFA granted FAI a loan of USD 5 million for the construction of a stadium in Ireland. At the same time, UEFA also granted the FAI funds for the same stadium. The terms agreed between FIFA and the FAI were that the loan would be reimbursed if Ireland qualified for the 2014 World Cup. Ireland did not so qualify. Because of this, and in view of the FAI's financial situation, FIFA decided to write off the loan as per 31 December 2014.