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What do we know about FIFA Ireland Ltd?

Between 2001 and 2008 FIFA had an Irish outpost - FIFA Ireland Ltd, which had offices in Dublin's...



What do we know about FIFA Ire...
Soccer

What do we know about FIFA Ireland Ltd?

Between 2001 and 2008 FIFA had an Irish outpost - FIFA Ireland Ltd, which had offices in Dublin's IFSC during most of its existence.

In light of the current FIFA controversy The Herald has been looking into the Irish operation which was seemingly set up for tax purposes and had no direct employees.

The company was incorporated on August 30, 2001 and FIFA president Sepp Blatter was appointed as the director of the company - and remained in charge until it was wound-up in 2008.

FIFA says that he had no operational function in the Irish firm.

The general secretary of FIFA, Michel Zen Ruffinen, and the FAI's then general secretary, Brendan Menton and its president Michael 'Milo' Corcoran were also appointed as directors.

The FAI has released a statement that says that it "had no legal relationship to this company at any stage during its existence."

A statement from FIFA says that neither the Irish association, or any of its officials made a "financial gain or loss" from their involvement in the company.

So what was it doing?

Football's governing body says that FIFA Ireland was used to enter into licensing agreements with FIFA's Japanese partners in relation to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

These were global companies like JVC, FujiFilm and Toshiba.

Over €110m was transferred to FIFA in Switzerland through the Irish office between the last quarter of 2001 and 2006 - FIFA says that this was "in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations."

Herald reports that accounts show that there were "no persons directly employed" during this period - and no directors were paid.

During its lifetime directors from FIFA and the FAI were reshuffled at times - but the 2006 filing states that "income from the company's primary activities ceased" in May of that year.

The company was finally wound up in February 2008.

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