The Republic of Ireland men's side remain without a main sponsor ahead of next month's high-profile fixture with Belgium.
The world number one-ranked team will take on Stephen Kenny’s side at the Aviva Stadium on 26 March, yet the green jerseys remain devoid of any sponsor’s logo.
The FAI has been unable to land a main sponsor since their deal with telecommunications network Three ended in August 2020, however, chief executive officer Jonathan Hill says that he is confident that the national team will find a suitable and equivalent one to Sky, who recently became main sponsors of the women’s team.
"Of course, we would like, in what has been a very difficult market because of Covid, Brexit etc to find their [the women’s] equivalent in relation to the men’s team, and we are working incredibly hard to do that," said Hill.
"But we have to be in the right place at the right time talking to a brand for whom a commitment to the men’s national team would be right for them as a business
"And it is my belief that what Stephen [Kenny] is doing with the team, what has happened over the last six months, and the very profile of the team in relation to its diversity and with a lot of the young guys coming through is exactly the type of platform that a business that is based in Ireland would want to align itself to.
"We will get there, and we will have that partner and they will help us, like Sky and all our other partners drive forward Irish football."
'We will get there, we will have that partner' - FAI CEO Jonathan Hill speaks about the effort to find a sponsor for the men's national team #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/WrSbFvtv1m
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) February 8, 2022
Meanwhile, the relatively recently appointed head of the FAI remains upbeat on Ireland’s chances of hosting Euro 2028 in a combined bid with the associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
And Hill is convinced that Ireland’s prior success as a host city for Euro 2020 – eventually ruled out as a result of travel and crowd restrictions due to the pandemic – will help convince UEFA of again proving suitable to be part of 2028 bid.
"In relation to the process for Euro 2028, we have already done a lot of the work in terms of a feasibility study for hosting World Cup 2030," said Hill.
"And we have already made a successful bid to host the four games in Euro 2020, so UEFA are very much aware of our capability of hosting games, and if we were asked to host Euro 2028 games tomorrow, we would be able to do so."
And Hill was adamant that the association can justify their involvement in the combined bid despite recent issues in relation to financial frailty of the organisation, while ensuring that other aspect of the game in Ireland do not suffer as a consequence.
"I don’t’ think it would be a drain on resource, and I certainly don’t think it would be a drain on finance," said Hill.
"And I think the areas that we covered in the strategy in relation to grassroots and the League of Ireland are all part of separate discussions and separate plans that will now build out on the back of what have been a really exhaustive consultation process in relation to creating this document."
