The billionaire is their first-ever Honorary President.
The Football Association of Ireland has named Denis O’Brien as its Honorary Life President after the announcement was made at their recent AGM in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork.
Of course, the billionaire has close ties with the FAI having funded the contracts of Giovanni Trapattoni and his successor, Martin O’Neill.
The board of the @FAIreland has granted businessman Denis O’Brien Honorary Life Presidency in recognition of his contribution to Irish Football
— Tony O'Donoghue (@Corktod) August 18, 2018
“Mr O’Brien has been a vocal and valuable supporter of Irish football at all levels in recent years, and the honour was bestowed upon him by the FAI Committee,” the FAI said in a statement.
The recent AGM also celebrated the FAI’s recent Festival of Football where the highlights included: 43 grassroots clubs visited, over €1million in funding given to grassroots clubs, and more than 4.8million people reached on social media.
This being said, it has been a difficult few weeks for various League of Ireland clubs with off the field issues dominating the discourse at Limerick City, Bray Wanderers and Athlone Town.
Aside from this, after the first-leg of Cork City’s recent defeat to Rosenborg, their manager, John Caulfield, said that: “From our point of view and from the League of Ireland’s point of view, there are very few teams and countries that our league is better than, which is disappointing.”
Cork City, Dundalk, Derry City and Shamrock Rovers have all been knocked out of Europe too.
