Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney said Thursday that FIFA paid the FAI €5 million ($5.6 million) in exchange for dropping a lawsuit over the infamous Thierry Henry handball decision that kept Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup.
Speaking to RTE Radio 1 in Ireland, Delaney said that FIFA agreed to the payment in order to avoid further legal action by the Irish:
"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," he told RTE Radio 1. 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."
During extra time in the second leg of a play-off between France and Ireland -- with Ireland leading 1-0 and on their way to qualifying to the World Cup -- Henry intentionally handled a ball to keep it in play and was able to make an assist for the game-tying goal that sent France to the World Cup instead.
FIFA released a statement shortly after to address Delaney's remarks:
FIFA have had their say on the $5m pic.twitter.com/nKvyIRoKXl
— Mark McCadden (@markmccadden) June 4, 2015
Then, the FAI released a statement addressing Delaney's remarks and the FIFA statement:
Further to FIFA's statement this evening in relation to the €5m settlement with the FAI, the Association can now confirm that a legal settlement agreement was reached with FIFA following the threat of a legal case by the Association against [the] world governing body in early 2010.
The matter has been reported before in the media however the Association has, until now, abided by the confidentiality agreement required by FIFA as part of the settlement.
The settlement was reached following strong legal advice given to the Association regarding the case against FIFA, and was a legitimate payment that enabled the Association to put €5m into the Aviva stadium project. This is fully reflected in our financial statements which are audited independently. The Association accepted FIFA's settlement offer to avoid a long, costly and protracted legal case. The offer given to the Association was fully written off by FIFA in 2014.
FIFA's settlement with the Association has at no time influenced the FAI's criticism of FIFA as demonstrated by our consistent criticisms of Sepp Blatter. Furthermore the settlement was made without any conditions other than confidentiality.
Delaney's comments are just the latest in a series of admissions that have begun to emerge following last week's indictments and Sepp Blatter announcing he will step down as FIFA president.
Listen to the full Delaney interview, courtesy of RTE Sport:
