FAI must have rethink on their prize fund for clubs
THE figures say it all as the disparity becomes almost frightening.
Cork City and Dundalk really are still in a league of their own compared to the rest of the pretenders in this 10-team Premier Division.
They have both won their last five games in a row. The Lilywhites are 13 points clear of third placed Waterford while John Caulfield’s league champions returned to the top of the table with a one-point lead after a 4-2 win over Derry City on Monday night.
The standard bearers have a combined goal difference of +68 while the remaining eight clubs have a total tally of -68. Grim.
For the last four seasons they have dominated the domestic game — Dundalk securing a three-in-a-row of championships from 2014-16 and Cork taking the crown last time out. No one has come close to challenging them.
Waterford threatened this season before tapering off. Derry have now lost four of their last five games but remain in fourth place. That is an indictment of the standards being set by those clubs vying for Europa League qualification.
You would think the latest financial incentives released by UEFA this week will provide a catalyst for some sort of reaction. Instead, it only serves to suggest the gulf will grow as Dundalk and Cork up their game in the arms race for Champions League qualification.
The latter will earn a minimum of €800,000 from European competition this summer. They get €280,000 for reaching the first qualifying round of the Champions League and even if they lose that tie they will parachute into the Europa League second round with €260,000 cushioning their fall.
And, because they are league champions, the Leesiders will pocket a further €260,000 from a solidarity fund for those clubs that don’t secure group stage football.
Dundalk, Derry and Shamrock Rovers have a guaranteed €240,000 from Europa League action but one win can see that figure break the half a million barrier.
These huge figures (in League of Ireland terms, least) are UEFA’s way of making it a little more palatable that mixing it with the elite is now practically a fantasy following the reduction of teams from 10 to six who can reach the group stages after entering at the qualifying rounds.
At the start of this season the FAI announced it was making available a €250,000 grant to be split evenly among clubs for youth development issues.
On the back of this UEFA treasure throve, they will now have to consider rethinking their own prize fund for league clubs.
As things stand the league winners collect €110,000, second collects €55,000, third earns €35,000, fourth €25,000 before it dwindles to €17,000 for the bottom two.
If the FAI aren’t in a position to be able to forcibly distribute European cash fairly around the league then they must act by doing so with their own coffers.