Soccer:THE FAI stand to receive a minimum of €8 million should the Republic of Ireland qualify for next summer's Uefa Euro 2012 finals in Poland/Ukraine.
That would then rise to approximately €12 million should Giovanni Trapattoni’s side come out of the group stage and into the quarter-finals.
Ireland are currently joint-top of qualifying Group B with Russia and Slovakia. With homes games against Slovakia and Armenia to come, along with visits to Moscow and Andorra, Ireland are challenging strongly to win the group.
Should that not materialise, Ireland are also well in contention for the best runners-up place, which also carries automatic qualification.
Then there are still the play-offs for the other eight runner-ups from the nine groups.
Qualification would be a timely financial boost to Abbotstown, given the FAI’s approximate €40 million debt incurred on the rebuilding of Lansdowne Road.
In March, Uefa also announced a lucrative television rights pooling fund which would benefit their 53 member nations by a minimum of €40 million over its four-year term from its introduction in 2014.
The executive committee of the European governing body confirmed the Euro 2012 prize funding for the finals when completing their two-day meeting at their headquarters in Nyon yesterday morning.
The overall prize fund is up €12 million on the 2008 finals, to a total of €196 million. Current champions Spain received a total of €23 million for winning three years ago, while the lowest payout went to Greece, who lost all three of their group games, and received €7.5 million.
“With regards to the financial distribution to the participating teams at the Uefa Euro 2012 final tournament the fixed participation contribution per team will amount to €8m,” Uefa confirmed on their official website.
“Further, a performance bonus at the group stage of €0.5m per draw and €1m per win was fixed, as well as a bonus of €1m to the third-placed team in the group.
“The quarter-finalists will each receive €2m, the semi-finalists €3m, the runners-up €4.5m and the winners of Uefa Euro 2012 €7.5m.”
Uefa also confirmed the draw for the qualifying play-offs will take place on Thursday, October 13th, in Krakow. The draw for the finals takes place at the National Palace of Arts “Ukraine” in Kyiv at 5pm on Friday, December 2nd.
“I was myself in Poland and Ukraine last week, and there is light at the end of the tunnel – we see that (work) is progressing,” said Gianni Infantino, Uefa general secretary, regarding preparations for the finals.
“There is still a lot to do, but we are very positive. Everything will be ready well in time, and you can see the change in enthusiasm in the two countries – everyone is getting very much into it now that we are approaching the Euro.”
Uefa are also set to honour players who have won 100 caps or more in international football. A commemorative cap and medal will be presented to those players who have reached the milestone.
Former manager Steve Staunton and current squad members Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane and captain Robbie Keane have all played over 100 times for Ireland.
