FOOTBALL'S WORLD governing body Fifa has decided to give its Irish subsidiary the boot.

Fifa Ireland Limited, which was involved in the licensing of intellectual property rights for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea, is undergoing a voluntary winding up. Accountant Tom Rogers of McStay Luby was appointed as liquidator on February 29th.

Documents filed recently with the Companies Office here show that Fifa Ireland had an estimated surplus, after paying its debts in full, of €417,206. Its assets amounted to €509,546 while its liabilities were €92,456.

Set up in 2001, the Irish company has not earned any income since May 2006. All of its activities were transacted through Swiss francs. Accounts for 2006 show it achieved turnover of 17.7 million Swiss francs (€11.2 million), roughly the same level as in 2005.

All of its turnover related to fees earned from the "marketing of intellectual property rights to Japanese entities", the accounts state. Its "cost of sales" amounted to 17.5 million Swiss francs. This related to licence fees paid to its Zurich-based parent.

The company did not employ any staff directly during the year.

Fifa Ireland made a pretax profit of 83,978 Swiss francs (€53,352) in 2006 and an after-tax surplus of 62,004 Swiss francs. It had accumulated profits at December 31st, 2006 of 850,826 Swiss francs.

Not surprisingly, the Irish company's turnover peaked in 2002 at 85.5 million Swiss francs, a year when it made a pretax profit of 780,000 Swiss francs.

The Irish company's directors are Fifa boss Sepp Blatter, FAI president David Blood and former president Milo Corcoran.

Fifa declined to comment on its decision to wind up the Irish business. Mr Rogers did not return calls made to his office. The Dublin-based company entered into licensing agreements for the 2002 World Cup, in which Ireland reached the last 16, with its Swiss parent and then sub-licensed the rights to sponsors.