Ireland may have missed out on the 2010 World Cup due to a bad call, but the Football Assn. of Ireland got something else from FIFA -- millions of dollars.
The embattled world governing body of soccer admitted Thursday to giving the money to FAI -- initially calling it a loan but eventually writing it off -- in the aftermath of a controversial non-call in 2009 by the referees on an obvious handball by France's Thierry Henry, whose team was playing Ireland for a spot in the following year's World Cup in South Africa.
FAI CEO John Delaney earlier had mentioned such a financial arrangement between the two organizations during an interview with RTE, Ireland's national public TV and radio broadcaster.