Yahoo – AFP,
4 June 2015
London
(AFP) - FIFA made a payment to the Football Association of Ireland after
Thierry Henry's handball stopped Ireland qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, FAI
chief executive John Delaney revealed on Thursday.
"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," Delaney told Ireland's RTE
Radio 1.
"We
came to an agreement. That was a Thursday and on Monday, the agreement was all
signed and all done. It was a payment to the association to not proceed with a
legal case."
The payment
is reported to have been worth five million euros ($5.63 million), but when
that figure was put to Delaney, he refused to confirm or deny it, saying he was
"bound by confidentiality".
France
qualified for the 2010 World Cup at Ireland's expense after Henry blatantly
handled the ball as he set up William Gallas for the decisive goal in a
play-off match in Paris in November 2009.
Delaney's
claim comes amid a corruption scandal engulfing FIFA that has seen president
Sepp Blatter announce his resignation and former executive committee member
Chuck Blazer admit to paying bribes.
Delaney
said that Blatter's behaviour at the Soccerex football conference in
Johannesburg 11 days after the match had hardened his resolve over the matter
of compensation.
"The
way Blatter behaved, if you remember on stage, having a snigger and having a
laugh at us..." he said.
"That
day when I went in (to discuss the agreement), and I told him how I felt about
him, there were some expletives used."
Henry was
derided as a cheat in the aftermath of the match at the Stade de France, which
ended in a 1-1 draw that saw France win 2-1 on aggregate.
The FAI and
the Irish government unsuccessfully petitioned world governing body FIFA for
the game to be replayed or for Ireland to be admitted to the World Cup in South
Africa as a '33rd team'.
Henry, then
with Barcelona, backed Ireland's calls for a replay and declared himself
"extremely sorry", but rejected the accusation that he was a cheat.
France went
on to endure a disastrous World Cup, crashing out in the group phase after the
players went on strike in protest at striker Nicolas Anelka's exclusion from
the squad for clashing with coach Raymond Domenech.
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