Soccer

Cash row threatens future of Nations Cup

Soccer: The Irish, Northern Irish and Welsh FAs are seeking to reduce the Scotland’s fee for the Carling Nations Cup as they…

Mon Dec 19 2011 - 00:00

Soccer:The Irish, Northern Irish and Welsh FAs are seeking to reduce the Scotland's fee for the Carling Nations Cup as they expressed disappointment over reports that Fifa could be brought in to arbitrate.

Reports have claimed the SFA were set to report the Football Association of Ireland to Fifa over the non-payment of a €1.4 million share of revenue from this year’s four-team tournament in Dublin.

The FAI, IFA and their Welsh counterparts today claimed they had been in negotiations with the SFA over reducing their payment.

In a joint statement, they said: “The tournament was established by the FAI, IFA, FAW and SFA in 2010 with costs and revenues to be shared and the Scottish FA getting a minimum fee requested for participation.

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“The competition took place in Dublin in February and May this year and returned a profit derived from television rights, sponsorship and ticket sales.

“Following the tournament the FAI, the IFA and the FAW have been in negotiations with the Scottish FA seeking a downward adjustment of their fee to give a more equitable share of the profits to each of the competing associations based on the economic climate and ticket sales generated at the tournament.

“It is disappointing that this matter has come into the public arena while the four associations are still trying to reach agreement. The FAI, IFA and FAW will not be making any further comment to give proper space for those discussions to take place.”

The SFA will not comment on the matter other than to say “private discussions are ongoing”.

The inaugural tournament took place at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in February and May, with Giovanni Trapattoni’s side lifting the trophy after a 1-0 win over Scotland in the final game.

The second tournament was provisionally scheduled for Wales in 2013 and talks were expected to take place earlier this year but no contractual commitments have been made.

The future of the tournament was cast into doubt even before the initial event when the English FA confirmed they had been speaking to other British associations about the possibility of a one-off tournament to mark their 150th anniversary in 2013.

Attendances did not break the 20,000 mark at any point with only a few hundred fans watching Wales play Northern Ireland.