The Football Association of Ireland has denied a report in Argentina claiming Republic of Ireland players were allegedly paid $10,000 each to prevent injuring Lionel Messi during a 2010 friendly in Dublin.
The FAI, in response to the allegations in La Nacion, has called the report baseless and is taking legal advice: “The Football Association of Ireland completely refutes the allegations made about the Republic of Ireland v Argentina friendly match in La Nacion as baseless. The match in question was organised by Kentaro and announced by press release prior to the World Cup play-offs in 2009. We are consulting our legal advisers in relation to the article and will be taking further steps.”
La Nacion alleges that the friendly was suggested by Julio Grondona, who was head of the Argentine FA at the time and a close ally of Sepp Blatter, “to calm Ireland down” but when the AFA was unable to stump up a $5m insurance fee for Messi, who should have been on a pre-season tour in China with Barcelona, Grondona suggested making the payment to the Irish players.
The fixture, the first international football match at the Aviva Stadium, was played soon after Fifa controversially agreed to pay the Football Association of Ireland €5m in the wake of Thierry Henry’s handball in their 2010 World Cup play-off against France – but the FAI says the Argentina match was announced before that.
The source quoted in La Nacion said he asked Grondona, who died last year, “how did you solve the Messi problem?” The AFA president, who had been in the role for 35 years, responded to the source by saying “$10,000 for each Irish player as payment not to hit Messi”.
Argentina won 1-0 courtesy of a first-half goal from Ángel di María, with Messi a peripheral figure before being substituted after 58 minutes. The report does not assert whether any payment was received by the Irish players.
