SOCCER: The FAI will this morning unveil a new long-term deal with kit and equipment sponsors Umbro worth in excess of €10 million to the association in product and cash over an eight-year period.

The deal ends months of negotiations that got under way while Fran Rooney was still at the helm of the FAI and which, at one point, broke down over the former chief executive's attempts to secure a combination of more money and more contractual freedom, something that led, briefly, to the association holding talks with rival firm Adidas.

The agreement looks to be good news for both parties. The FAI benefit from a substantial rise in the roughly €650,000 per annum value of its previous contract with the sportswear firm.

And Umbro Ireland have now secured long-term control over its most lucrative range of product at a time when it no longer markets Manchester United and cannot, given the competitiveness of the market, count on having other significant sellers such as Celtic and Chelsea at its disposal beyond the next couple of years.

Under the terms of the new contract, the FAI is believed to be in line to receive a payment of more than €500,000, with the rest coming in the form of product.

With Ireland currently involved in around 100 representative games a year at all levels, the association's various international squads will account for a significant portion of the gear provided, with much coming in the form of strips, tracksuits, bags, balls and other equipment.

The growing number of training and summer camps, as well as coaching schools and other development schemes envisaged under the technical plan, will also greatly increase the organisation's requirements in this area and these have all been taken into account under the terms of the new deal.

"It sounds like it's a good deal financially," said one FAI source, "but I think that the preference always would have been to deal with Umbro because of the size of their operation here and the fact that they have been so good to deal with in the past.

"The bottom line is that something comes up and you need to get something in a hurry they can get it for you. We take a phenomenal amount of stuff from them and it makes a huge difference when you are sourcing that from a firm based here. With Adidas or Nike you would have been looking at going to England or even further afield to get things and we know from experience that you don't want that sort of complication to deal with."

It is not yet clear, however, where this new contract will leave the association's plans to market a range of branded leisure-wear sourced from another company which almost resulted in legal action between the two parties last year.

Rooney was heavily criticised within the association at the time for pressing ahead with an order for T-shirts and other items costing more than €150,000, despite strong objections from Umbro which insisted the sale of such goods was prohibited under the terms of their agreement.

Umbro effectively found themselves in a position to block any attempt to sell the goods until their current contract expired and the goods have been in storage for many months now.

The situation proved a considerable embarrassment to the then chief executive and, after a brief attempt to negotiate with the firm's rivals, Rooney was obliged to reopen talks with the company's Irish chief John Courtenay in an effort to move things forward prior to his departure.

Little progress appears to have been made at the time, but with the company anxious to strike a long-term deal, and interim chief executive John Delaney equally keen to deliver what will be perceived as good news within the game, things moved swiftly after his departure. The deal should certainly come as a boost to the FAI's former treasurer if it is confirmed without a hitch.

A previous deal with Umbro became the subject of considerable controversy when it emerged that there had been considerable problems over who would pay for the cost of rebranding items such as the jackets and bibs used by security staff at international matches.

There were also considerable delays last year with finalising the association's major sponsorship deals with Eircom and FIAT because the association could not reach agreement with its most prominent senior international stars on the use of their image rights and some other issues connected with the contracts.