John Delaney joined the board of directors of soccer club
Waterford United in 1996, representing the club on the
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) Senior Council, and in the
League of Ireland. In July 2001, he was elected treasurer of the FAI at the age of thirty-three, becoming the youngest person to hold the position. His father, Joe, had held the same position previously. after
Fran Rooney's acrimonious departure, and was appointed to the role full-time in March 2005. In November 2006, his contract was extended to 2012. and in July 2014 once more, this time to 2019. The biggest project undertaken during Delaney's time in office was the expansion of the
Irish Rugby Football Union stadium at Lansdowne Road to become the
Aviva Stadium. Led by the IRFU with the active participation of the FAI, the project successfully delivered the stadium but while the State and the IRFU parts were financially as planned, the FAI found itself in severe debt. The main scheme to pay for the FAI elements of the work, the Vantage Club for high-income fans, massively under-delivered on advance ticket sales, partly due to the declining economic climate after the Irish financial crisis and partially to the over-pricing of the ticket offering.
FIFA payment revelation (2015) After the
Republic of Ireland's 2009 World Cup play-off defeat to France, Delaney claimed that
FIFA had "offered [the FAI] a Fair Play award" and that the FAI had declined. On 4 June 2015, after Blatter announced his intention to hold an extraordinary general meeting following the arrests of seven FIFA officials on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, Delaney revealed that the FAI had previously reached an agreement with Blatter for a payment in January 2010. In
2012 the Republic of Ireland qualified for their first European Championship since 1988, under
Giovanni Trapattoni, and in 2016 they also qualified for the same championship in France, under
Martin O'Neill, and advanced to the last 16 of the tournament. During the
2016 Summer Olympics ticket scandal, Brazilian police were given permission to seize Delaney's passport as part of an investigation into alleged ticket touting. Delaney resigned from the
Olympic Council of Ireland's (OCI) executive committee and his position as the second vice-president of the OCI on 25 October 2016. On 9 April 2019, Sport Ireland suspended and withheld future funding to the FAI due to the breach of the grant approval terms & conditions. On 10 April 2019, Delaney was part of an FAI delegation appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on Sport but, after reading a prepared statement, declined to take questions or speak any further. Delaney resigned his UEFA executive committee membership in January 2020.
Other roles Delaney became a member of the executive committee of the
Olympic Council of Ireland in 2005. He was re-elected unopposed as Second Vice-president of the OCI in 2008. He resigned from the executive committee and from his position as the Second Vice-president of the OCI on 25 October 2016. Prior to this, he had been seen as heir apparent to OCI president Pat Hickey. As the FAI's chief executive, Delaney also served as a member of the Aviva Stadium's board of directors. He was elected to the executive committee of UEFA at the Helsinki Congress on 5 April 2017.
National team managers Delaney has overseen the appointments of
Steve Staunton,
Giovanni Trapattoni,
Martin O'Neill and
Mick McCarthy to manage the
Republic of Ireland national football team. ==Personal life==