The debt-ridden FAI insists it can fund their ambitious four-year strategy for Irish football.
The blueprint was launched tonight, on the same day Ireland confirmed a joint Euro 2028 bid with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Chasing another major tournament riled some football fans who felt the money would be better spent improving grassroots and League of Ireland football.
But revealing the FAI’s strategy for 2022-2025, FAI chief Jonathan Hill said: “This is not something to put in a drawer, it’s something we’ll live and breathe by.
“It’s not just about the next year or four years, to a degree it’s about setting us up for the next 100 years.”
The FAI has debts of over €60m and required a Government bailout of more than €30m two years ago just to stay afloat.
But chairman Roy Barrett is confident the association - still without a sponsor for the men’s senior team - can secure funding to fuel the new masterplan.
“I think the funding will come,” he said tonight. “We have tried to build trust from a low level over a couple of years and I think we have achieved that."
In its ‘mission’ to improve all strands of Irish football, the FAI identified five key areas to focus on.
Working with the government to transform facilities and infrastructure across grassroots and League of Ireland level is chief among them.
This includes educating leagues and clubs about key funding opportunities available to them.
Developing ‘the full potential of football for women and girls’ is another vital cornerstone of the plan.
And the FAI says it will also ‘facilitate investment’ into the men and women’s League of Ireland to develop a sustainable, well-structured league.
This includes the establishment of a third division in the men’s League of Ireland in 2023 - as Mirror Sport revealed last year - and a women’s second tier by late 2025.
Doubling the number of qualified referees in the country to 30,000 by the end of 2025 is another priority, as is increasing the amount of qualified coaches.
The international teams are expected to be “consistently competitive at all age levels and deliver success in each qualification phase/tournament we participate in.”
This includes Euro 2024 qualification for Stephen Kenny’s team, Women’s World Cup 2023 or Euro 2025 for Vera Pauw’s and consistent top 30-world rankings for both.
FAI chairman Barrett said: “We need to move forward and a core part of this plan is investment.
“And investment will come for our game as it's the best, largest and most supported game in the country.
“We have evolved through difficult times to get to financial stability and now we have the opportunity to turbo charge our future.”
In putting together their strategic plan, the FAI spoke to players, fans, coaches, referees administrators, media, parents, volunteers and the general public.
Nine regional town halls took place around the country and 535 members of the football community engaged in the process
To read the FAI Strategy 2022-2025 in full, click here
