Northern Ireland to be in Euro 2008 by proxy?

darkman2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7250730.stm



Imagine if NI qualified like this. They came 3rd in Spain's group so would automatically qualify if Spain are kicked out.


NI played well through the qualifiers, no one would deny that but if they end up at Euro 2008 they would probrably be the weakest team ever from Europe to reach a major tournament.

Any thoughts?

_blank_

About the Spanish government took it's nose out of football imo.

They bankrolled the Galacticos.

darkman2

DesF wrote: »

About the Spanish government took it's nose out of football imo.

They bankrolled the Galacticos.

I heard somewhere the big players at the major Spanish clubs pay no tax - at all. Is this true?

Eirebear

Didnt Denmark win the competition after qualifying like this?

_blank_

darkman2 wrote: »

I heard somewhere the big players at the major Spanish clubs pay no tax - at all. Is this true?

Um, in most countries the clubs pay the tax for the players.

The figure you hear quoted as €/p/week is a figure after tax, with the club having picked up the tax bill.

AFAIK.

Mr Alan

not sure about that Des, remember Riises wage slip appeared online? there was tax deductions in that afaik.

Although, i too have heard that the Spanish government charge minimal tax on players wages as an added incentive to play in Spain.

ditpoker

is this just an empty threat by fifa, any chance of NI actually getting to euro 08?

_blank_

Mr Alan wrote: »

not sure about that Des, remember Riises wage slip appeared online? there was tax deductions in that afaik.

Hmm, I remember that.

BUT, part of (THE main part imo) Shels problems were that they weren't paying the tax due, and every club in Ireland operates this way.

Oh, I think I know what I was meaning.

The company you work for pays the tax for you too. You don't have to physically write a cheque every week/month for the revenue, do you?

Sorry, i was indeed incorrect there.

Mr Alan wrote: »

Although, i too have heard that the Spanish government charge minimal tax on players wages as an added incentive to play in Spain.

Charging minimal tax, and paying no tax are not the same thing.

Sports stars in Ireland can reclaim tax paid after their careers are finished, I think.

_blank_

ditpoker wrote: »

is this just an empty threat by fifa, any chance of NI actually getting to euro 08?

FIFA don't do empty threats, especially concerning Spain :rolleyes:

DerekD Goldfish

Tax on football players wages in spain is about 15% far less than in other european countries so it costs clubs comparitively far less to give a player a net wages of X than in Italy,England etc

DerekD Goldfish

DesF wrote: »

Hmm, I remember that.

BUT, part of (THE main part imo) Shels problems were that they weren't paying the tax due, and every club in Ireland operates this way.

Oh, I think I know what I was meaning.

The company you work for pays the tax for you too. You don't have to physically write a cheque every week/month for the revenue, do you?

Sorry, i was indeed incorrect there.



Charging minimal tax, and paying no tax are not the same thing.

Sports stars in Ireland can reclaim tax paid after their careers are finished, I think.

No AFAIK
They are just able to put 30% on wages into a pension tax free rather than the 15% a person of there age would normaly be able to

Galvasean

Eirebear wrote: »

Didnt Denmark win the competition after qualifying like this?

Yes.:D

Eirebear

Galvasean wrote: »

Yes.:D

Thankyou!

PHB

Personally I'd like to see governments get more involved in football, as I trust them more than I trust FIFA.

_blank_

PHB wrote: »

Personally I'd like to see governments get more involved in football, as I trust them more than I trust FIFA.

Hmm

Bertie or Sepp?

Daddy or Chips?

OhNoYouDidn't

DerekD Goldfish wrote: »

No AFAIK
They are just able to put 30% on wages into a pension tax free rather than the 15% a person of there age would normaly be able to

Wrong.

You can claim back a significant chunk of any PAYE paid when you retire from the game. Rugby are taking more advantage of it than football at the moment, hence the quality Aussies and All Blacks heading to play in Ireland for the last 3 or 4 years of their careers.

When you hear of a player getting x a week that is generally net of tax, the clubs still pay it, but unlike us oiks, they negotiate after tax wages.

In fact most players are actually contractors as opposed to employees and pay corporate tax rates.

Pigman II

Weren't Russia gonna be dumped out of Euro 2004 paving the way for us to sneak in the backdoor? Seems like there's a couple of stories like this in every qualifying series.

As for the Denmark comparisons you should put it in perspective. Sure it took a civil war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia itself to pave the way for Denmark to qualify. ie it was an event that was bigger than FIFA itself.

No way Spain is missing out on Euro2008.

Also there's no way Norn Iron would be the worst team to qualify for the Euros. For that look no further than Englands 1988 team

An Citeog

As already posted, the tax rate for professional footballers in Spain is around the 15% mark. Afaik, the wages figures quoted in most of the rags about premiership footballers are gross amounts.

Pepe LeFrits

DesF wrote: »

Hmm

Bertie or Sepp?

Daddy or Chips?

hahaha. On form this today Des.

grames_bond

ditpoker wrote: »

is this just an empty threat by fifa, any chance of NI actually getting to euro 08?

sounds to me like scare tactics tbh, but you never kno?

GuanYin

You sure it won't be the next best team in terms of record over 3rd in that group?

Guy:Incognito

PSI: Las Vegas wrote: »

You sure it won't be the next best team in terms of record over 3rd in that group?

Wouldnt have thought so. You'd imagine it would be the team that would theoretically qualified had Spain not been in the group in the first place.

GuanYin

In that case it would be Denmark who go through and not Northern Ireland.

Both finished on 20 points, but Denmark lost twice to Spain whereas Northern Ireland lost away and won at home. Therefore, if you remove Spain's results, Nothern Ireland will have 17pts and Denmark will have 20pts.

LostinBlanch

Pigman II wrote: »

Also there's no way Norn Iron would be the worst team to qualify for the Euros. For that look no further than Englands 1988 team

Hmmmm True their record was: Played 3 Won 0 Drew 0 Lost 3 For 2 Against 7

But at least they scored one more goal than they did in 1992, and that was offside iirc! :eek:

Benedict XVI

Stekelly wrote: »

Wouldnt have thought so. You'd imagine it would be the team that would theoretically qualified had Spain not been in the group in the first place.

i think that is the way it happened in 1992, at the time there was even talk of the Republic of Eire getting the place Yougoslavia vacated, as far as I remember

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PSI: Las Vegas wrote: »

In that case it would be Denmark who go through and not Northern Ireland.

Both finished on 20 points, but Denmark lost twice to Spain whereas Northern Ireland lost away and won at home. Therefore, if you remove Spain's results, Nothern Ireland will have 17pts and Denmark will have 20pts.

Denamrk to qualify by proxy and win the whole damn thing AGAIN...?!

yayamark

Linky

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7264354.stm

Uefa has warned Spain they could be thrown out of Euro 2008, which may open the door for Northern Ireland.
Uefa may step in if the Spanish government tries to interfere in the election process of the Spanish FA.

Spain topped their qualifying group for the European Championship, with NI finishing in third place.

"Uefa and Fifa deal with these sort of issues very seriously. These are no empty threats - we will back them up," said Uefa spokesman William Gaillard.

"It is similar to 1992 when Yugoslavia was suspended and Denmark, who finished second in the group, came in," added Gaillard.

Denmark went on to win the tournament in Sweden after beating Germany 2-0 in the final.

Spain and second-placed Sweden qualified for this summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland from Group F, with Nigel Worthington's side missing out.

"We have heard nothing about this," said Irish FA president Raymond Kennedy.

"There has been no communication and it is obviously an internal matter."



Mad if they got to play.

Dubit10

Fair play to them:)

GuanYin

merged the weeks old news with the weeks old thread.

Non event really, especially seeing as if they discounted spains qualifying results, which is the fairest way of doing it, Denmark would leapfrog N.I.

Peyton Manning

Heres hoping NI get through *fingers crossed*

godtabh

Galvasean wrote: »

Yes.:D

No!

Wasn’t it because Yugoslavia went to war?