Bleak times ahead - the FAI remain in €63.5 million worth of debt

At today's first in-person FAI AGM the association remains in debt to the tune of €63.5million.

Despite announcing a surplus of €6.7m for 2021, the association’s net current liabilities dropped from €13m to €8.3m.

Debt legacy issues still plague football’s governing body as borrowings increased from €62.4m to €63.5m and the FAI cash balance at the end of 2021 was €27.1m with net assets of €2.7m.

The FAI received €5.8m in grant funding from Sport Ireland in 2021, the same figure as in 2020.

Also, the FAI included €9.1m of Covid relief funding from the government and Sport Ireland to offset the loss of income due to the pandemic.

Director of finance for the FAI, Alex O’Connell admitted that the reliance on deferred income in the past, the policy of using money from future sponsorship in the current period, has placed the FAI at risk.

Included in the FAI’s strategy plan announced back in February of this year, the association planned to announce a new third tier in the League of Ireland commencing in the 2023 season. This has now been pushed back to 2024 according to the FAI CEO Jonathan Hill.

Addressing the gender balance, the FAI deferred appointment of board members from the AGM for three months. This was to satisfy the requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding with the government the association must increase the number of female directors on the twelve person board from two to five by 2023.

Independent Chairman Roy Barrett said that by achieving gender balance at all levels the game will be so much better but he agreed that there are some inconsistencies in several committees but stressed that this needs to be addressed in a collaborative way.

The FAI accepted the need to increase the pool of female candidates and