CAS Dismiss Appeal Filed by Irish FA

Lausanne, 30 July 2010 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its final decision in the appeal filed by the Irish Football Association (IFA) against the decision taken by the FIFA Players’ Status Committee on 4 February 2010.

On 3 November 2009, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) submitted a request to FIFA to allow the player Daniel Kearns to represent the national team of the FAI based on his dual British and Irish nationalities. The Single Judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee decided that Mr Kearns fulfilled the objective requirements provided by Article 18 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes, since the player had never represented Northern Ireland in an official competition at “A” International level. The IFA filed an appeal with CAS on 2 March 2010 and the case was heard by a CAS Panel in Lausanne on 19 July 2010.

The CAS Panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision issued by the Single Judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee, which recognized that Daniel Kearns was eligible to play for the national team of the FAI.

The full arbitral award with the grounds for the decision will be published by the CAS in a few days.