Wheels come off lucrative FAI deal

With two of its current sponsorship deals set to end over the coming months, the FAI is hoping to secure at least one major new commercial backer during the summer with officials insisting that talks between the association, a number of car manufacturers and one of the big financial institutions are progressing well.

The association's new inner city Futsal programme, backed by Kellogg's, is set to be unveiled on Tuesday next but the recruitment of the cereal manufacturer has been more than offset by the impending departure of Fiat, the Italian auto manufacturer who announced a four-year deal worth around €1 million in cash and cars to the FAI back in February 2004.

Like Mars, who chose to cut the link between its Snickers brand and the association last year, the Italians appear to have decided that it is now time for a change in direction. The company have been major backers, providing a fleet of vehicles to the association's senior management and its Regional Development Officers and talks are said to be in progress with a number of firms in the same sector with a view to finding a replacement.

At least one of the association's other sponsors, Statoil, also looks set to make an exit in the near future as the company is withdrawing from the Irish petrol retail market. The firm is not, however, one of the bigger contributors to the association whose chief backers, Eircom and Umbro, both provide sponsorship worth more than €1 million annually. After some difficult times a couple of years back, the organisation appears to be in good shape financially with chief executive John Delaney claiming recently that it currently has reserves of €12 million.

He went on to suggest that Merrion Square could be sold before the end of the year and with the forthcoming World Cup campaign likely to yield record profits, the association would be able to put up some €30 million of its contribution to the construction costs of the new Lansdowne Road stadium before having to borrow funds.

As far back as August, however, Delaney signalled that efforts were being made to find replacements for Mars and Fiat on the sponsorship front and it will be viewed as a disappointment that suitable deals have thus far proven elusive. In spite of this, a spokesman for the association expressed confidence yesterday that the situation would be resolved satisfactorily in the near future. "We appointed a new commercial director (Rory Smyth) only two weeks ago and we're in very active discussions with car companies and a bank," he said.