Shane Duffy gets Irish green light

The Football Association of Ireland announced today that Derry's Shane Duffy has been declared eligible to play for Ireland.

Duffy's change of association had been held up by the IFA who had brought a case to the Court Of Arbitration For Sport in an attempt to try and block Irish citizens born in the North of Ireland from representing Ireland at international level.

The CAS Panel dismissed the IFA appeal against Belfast born player Daniel Kearns and confirmed the decision issued by the Single Judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee, which recognized that he was fully eligible to play for the national team of Ireland.

FAI statement:

The FIFA Player Status Committee passed its decision today to allow the player represent the national team of the FAI. Having considered the submission made by the FAI and the request from the player, the Single Judge of the Player Status Committee concluded that Shane Duffy is eligible to play for the FAI based on his Irish Nationality and the fact he had never represented the IFA’s association team at ‘A’ International Level previous to the application.