KOSI report on FAI finances finds John Delaney incurred personal expenditure of almost €1m in five-year period

A report into the FAI's financial affairs during the tenure of former CEO John Delaney, which was commissioned by the association, has found that Delaney clocked up personal expenditure of just under €1million in a five-year period.

Extracts from Champagne Football, a book analysing the Delaney years and the 2019 fall from grace of the long-serving CEO, were published today in the Sunday Times and details of a report by KOSI, make clear just how financially committed the association were to Delaney.

Costs incurred by Delaney but which were paid by the FAI include €316,000 on legal fees for defamation-related cases he took over coverage of the ticketing scandal at the Olympic games in 2016.

The KOSI report, which was commissioned by the FAI but never published as its contents were forwarded to An Garda Síochána and the ODCE, found that the FAI paid €70,000 to cover the costs of Delaney's 50th birthday party, that there was "personal spending" of €125,000 on Delaney's FAI credit card, including just under €50,000 for ATM withdrawals between 2015 and 2019.

The report also found that between 2015 and 2018, the FAI paid €242,000 in rent and other personal expenses for Delaney, who was on a salary of €360,000 at one stage and KOSI estimated the combined financial outlay of the FAI towards Delaney as €972,626. Delaney repaid €227,629 to the FAI, including a €50,000 payment for the costs related to the birthday party which was attended by public figures such as UEFA president Alexander Ceferin, former international manager John Giles, TD Alan Kelly and pundit Eamon Dunphy.

Reports carried out by KOSI and Mazars, commissioned by the FAI, have not been published and the Delaney matter is currently being processed by the ODCE