The cost to the FAI of the Republic of Ireland not qualifying for next summer's World Cup finals was underlined yesterday in Leipzig where FIFA confirmed that prize-money for the event is to be roughly doubled to €195 million with a further €50 million being provided to the 32 competing teams in the form of expenses.

Had the Republic of Ireland qualified for the tournament the FAI would have been guaranteed a windfall of €3.9 million from the world game's governing body.

Progression to the second round would have earned the association a further €1.6 million while a repeat of the team's performance in Italy 15 years ago, when Jack Charlton led Ireland to the quarter-finals, would yield a cheque for €7.5 million.

The winner of next year's final, which is due to take place on July 9th in Berlin, will net around €16 million, almost twice what Brazil got for beating Germany in Yokohama, while the runners-up will earn just short of €15 million.

In addition to performance-related prize-money FIFA will provide travel and accommodation expenses of €260 per day for up to 45 players and officials as well as a one-off advance payment to all participants of €650,000 to cover the cost of preparing for the tournament.

The FAI had been in line to benefit from substantial commercial revenues - both from bonus clauses in existing deals and new sponsorships - in the event that the Republic had qualified, although the players' take of the total income was also expected to rise substantially.

In 2002 the association made a profit of roughly €3.2 million from its participation in the Japan/Korea finals and its chief executive, John Delaney, recently estimated that the net loss to the organisation due to non-qualification on this occasion was around €5 million.