Hungary-Ireland friendly set to be declared void

The friendly played on June 4 between Hungary and Ireland may not be recognised as an official match by FIFA, the Irish Federation (FAI) said this week.

Hungary were responsible for all aspects of the fixture that ended 0-0 but FIFA have revealed that assistant referee David Vang Andersen, who was used that night, is not recognised on their current list of referees.

However both federations said that regardless of FIFA’s final decision, the match will be treated as an international in respect of caps awarded to players.

The revelations, first reported in the Irish Daily Star, would most notably affect the status of Irish winger Damien Duff, who retired from international football following Euro 2012, with a century of caps to his name.

The Irish FAI have assured the Fulham player will not see his caps tally diminished in any way and UEFA and FIFA leave it to the discretion of national associations to award caps.