FAI omission cost Drogheda their European dream

June 18, 2025

The fallout from the decision to expel Drogheda United from the UEFA Conference League continues as it emerged on Tuesday that the FAI did not forward an important circular in relation to multi-club ownership to the FAI Cup winners.

Sinn Féin TD and Drogheda United’s chairperson Joanna Byrne said that UEFA sent out a circular to all member associations on October 7, 2024, but that the document wasn’t forwarded to Drogheda United.

Scenario is devastating for Irish football as a whole

The decision to prevent the Louth club has a number of implications for the club. And with emotion still running high, Byrne spoke about the situation:

“The FAI have said that they never sent on the circular to the club. They have admitted that, and that was part of our defence. They have done everything they can to support us over the last few weeks. And we have a great relationship with them.”

“There had been no communication from anyone and UEFA couldn’t say otherwise. Other clubs had been communicated with directly and there had been leeway given to bigger clubs. This is not only devastating for us but for Irish football as a whole.”

The document in question is understood to have outlined the change in dates for compliance with multi-club ownership rules, crucially stating in the last line:

“The change has been approved and communicated early to enable clubs to prepare and ensure their compliance with multi-club ownership criteria stipulated in Article 5.01 ahead of the new deadline for the 2025/2026 season.”

However, the Irish club never received the circular. Meaning Drogheda and Trivela were operating on the previous season’s timelines before they were finally informed on February 26th that the deadline to make contact with UEFA was only two days later, on March 1st.

FAI speak out

The FAI’s failure to pass on the crucial information to Drogheda was first reported in the Irish Independent on Tuesday, which reached out to the governing body for football in the Republic of Ireland with a query on the matter:

“At the time of publication of the UEFA Circular in question on 7 October 2024, Drogheda United FC’s ownership group did not own Silkeborg IF; therefore, this UEFA Circular was not sent by the FAI to the Club.

“When the FAI were notified of Trivela Group’s takeover of Silkeborg IF on 19 November 2024. The FAI informed the Trivela Group of our concerns regarding Drogheda United FC’s participation in the UEFA Conference League should Silkeborg IF qualify for the tournament due to UEFA’s Multi-Club Ownership Regulations.

“UEFA were informed of the multi-club ownership scenario regarding Drogheda United FC and Silkeborg IF via the standard procedures by both the FAI and DBU.

“All ten Men’s Premier Division teams were invited by the FAI to apply for a UEFA Licence in December. But only the four clubs who qualified on sporting merit completed the process. On 7 May 2025, the awarding of UEFA Licences was announced by the FAI following the completion of the Independent Licensing Committee review.”

Drogheda United set an unwanted first

Drogheda are the first-ever club to miss out on European competition under UEFA rules on multi-club ownership. Their owners, Trivela, are also the majority owners of Danish club Silkeborg, who qualified for the Europa Conference League through their domestic league.

Under UEFA’s legislation, two teams owned by the same group cannot compete in the same tournament. The Danish club are allowed to compete in this year’s UEFA Conference League solely on the basis that they finished higher than Drogheda in their respective domestic leagues.