FAI keen to secure Owen Elding for Ireland before Sligo exit, with Juventus weighing move

The sensational rise of Owen Elding provides the Football Association of Ireland with an opportunity to show off their administrative expertise.

UK and European clubs are circling Sligo Rovers’ home-grown prodigy. Even Juventus are curious following his eighth goal of the season at Dalymount Park last Friday.

Whether the 19-year-old’s latest piledriver - scored in a 1-1 draw against high-flying Bohemians - was better than his 35-metre rocket against Shelbourne in late May is up for debate.

Owen Elding's goals in 2025 😍 pic.twitter.com/ffkXi6RAq3
— League of Ireland (@LeagueofIreland) July 1, 2025

“Owen reminds me of Malcolm Macdonald, especially when he hammers the left foot,” said Tommy Higgins, the Sligo chairman. “He has that build too.”

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Those born after the 1960s will not remember Macdonald’s long-range strikes for Luton, Newcastle and Arsenal.

There is something unquantifiable about the way Elding is performing this season. According to Sligo Rovers manager John Russell, the boy is already a leader of men: “We know he’s got talent but he’s orchestrating things. He’s making demands of players, his work-rate off the ball is top class. Once he’s in the team you’ve a chance of winning matches.”

Good, because Sligo sit second from bottom of the Premier Division, eight points adrift of Waterford, with league leaders Shamrock Rovers rolling into town on Saturday night.

Elding is also comparable to the early sightings of Chiedozie Ogbene galloping about the Gaelic and soccer pitches of Cork.

Anthony Elding celebrates after scoring the winning goal for Sligo Rovers in the 2013 FAI Cup final against Drogheda United. Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho

Their situations are similar. The Ogbene family moved from Nigeria to Cork when Chiedozie was seven years old to work and eventually thrive in the Irish healthcare system. The Eldings arrived in Sligo from England, when Owen was also seven, before his dad Anthony Elding went on to become a club legend.

Scoring a 94th-minute winner in the 2013 FAI Cup final ensures the Elding name is etched into Sligo sporting folklore. It was Anthony Elding’s 19th goal that season.

“It runs in the family,” said Higgins. “Owen has been a natural goalscorer all his life. He scored 27 goals for the under-14s in our academy. A modest lad, he has the temperament too.”

Sligo Rovers have Elding tied to a three-year contract, without the dreaded break clause that recently saw Galway United lose the prolific Moses Dyer.

The FAI are currently working to satisfy Fifa of his Irishness.

They should know what they are doing. One of Stephen Kenny’s first inquiries after his appointment as Ireland manager in 2020 was around the availability of Ogbene.

Stephen Kenny with Chiedozie Ogbene in 2022, during Kenny's time as Republic of Ireland manager. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

“It was a [14-month] process to get him registered, with Uefa and Fifa having to trawl through records,” Kenny revealed in 2021 before capping the winger against Hungary. “I didn’t feel that was right because he’s lived in Cork since he was seven.

“He grew up through the schoolboy system, came into Cork City then played for Limerick. He should have absolutely been able to play for Ireland a long time ago, but he wasn’t. The minute I got the job we were trying to get him free to play.”

Sligo have not received a formal offer for Elding from Juventus or any English club. It is safe to assume that the Ireland under-21 manager, Jim Crawford, would like to see the youngster’s Irish passport stamped before he inevitably leaves the country.

The Eldings are English by birth. Just like the Ogbenes are Nigerian by birth. But, like Chiedozie Ogbene, Owen Elding has come through the Irish system, as his dad finished his career at the Showgrounds before coaching his son in the Sligo and Longford Town academies.

Fifa rules state that a player qualifies to play for a country on residency grounds by continuously living there for five years after turning 18.

There is some wriggle room by demonstrating a “clear connection” to the country. Ogbene needed to produce records from his primary school, Bunscoil Chríost Rí, to show the family move was not solely for him to play professional football.

Strict rules around residency are necessary. The “clear connection” law came into force in 2004 after Qatar granted nationality to three Brazilian players. Fifa articles 19.3 and 19.4 aim to “protect minors from being exploited or moved around for purely footballing reasons” and to “provide responsible and ethical management of young players’ careers”.

Ethics still matter in football, on paper at least. Over to the pencil pushers overlooking Abbotstown’s green fields.

Up Next: The first Shelbourne match at Tolka since Damien Duff quit is on Friday night against bottom side Cork City, while St Patrick’s Athletic’s’ miserable run of form needs to be arrested at home to Bohemians, which is the live game on Virgin Media Two.