FAI left to count the cost of not qualifying

Financial implications: While financial matters might not have been uppermost in the thoughts of the disconsolate supporters filing away from Lansdowne Road last night, after the heartache of watching the Republic of Ireland fail to reach the World Cup play-offs, the Football Association of Ireland was left to count the considerable cost of the ending of those qualifying hopes.

Taking into account the increase in the prize fund for teams qualifying for the finals in Germany, announced last April by Fifa, bonus payments the FAI would have received from its sponsors, along with sundry other sources of revenue that would have accrued as a result of making it to Germany, it has been estimated World Cup qualification would have yielded the association around 5 million.

That figure does not include the income that would have been earned from involvement in two qualifying play-off games. Indeed, before last night's match the prospect of Ireland going through to the play-offs and being drawn against a country that would pay top dollar for television rights to the tie would have had those in charge of the FAI purse strings salivating.

It had even been estimated that if Ireland had been paired with Spain in the play-offs - whatever about the prospects of beating them - the rights to the home leg of the tie would have harvested almost as much for the FAI as it earned from actual qualification for the 2002 World Cup finals, 3.3 million (with approximately 2 million the figure expected to be earned from selling the television rights and up to another million from ticket sales, advertising, etc).

Indeed, when the FAI studied their qualifying tables before last night's game and worked out possible opponents in the play-offs Turkey would also have caught their eye. True, if Ireland and Turkey had made it into the hat for tomorrow's play-off draw Brian Kerr would most certainly have wanted to avoid them, but, like Spain, Turkey has a huge television market - in contrast to most of the other countries through to the play-offs.

Of course, qualification for the World Cup was the goal, but in pure monetary terms reaching Germany through the play-off route, rather than qualifying directly as group winners, would have been more profitable for the FAI. Yes, Lansdowne Road would have been unavailable for the home leg but even having to hand over anything between a fifth and a third of the income from the game to the hosts, whether it was Liverpool, Celtic or the owners of Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, could have brought in approximately 1 million.

The FAI has always insisted that it makes little profit on its bucket seats at Lansdowne Road, due to the cost of installing them for each game and the insurance they have to pay, so having to take the home leg abroad would not have been financially damaging.

John Delaney, the FAI chief executive, had promised that any profits made from the 2006 World Cup, in the event of Ireland qualifying, would have been invested in the new Lansdowne Road, bringing their estimated contribution to the 365 million stadium to €70 million.

Those plans, though, have now been scattered to the wind. Instead the 32 teams that qualify for the finals can look forward to a share of the €242 million prize fund Fifa announced in April, with 17.5 million going to the winners (more than double the amount earned by Brazil in 2002).

"We are not a rich confederation, but we are a comfortable confederation," said Sepp Blatter, president of Fifa, when announcing the increase.

After last night's woes the FAI is neither rich nor comfortable, that 5 million, approximately a quarter of its annual turnover, lost.