Duff to keep cap after all

It looks like Damien Duff might keep his 100th cap after all.

Reports this morning that the centurion would be stripped of one appearance following an admin error on the part of Hungary in their pre-Euro 2012 friendly, leading to the game being expunged, looked to have left the retired Dubliner stuck on 99 appearances.

However, after consulting with FIFA, the FAI have confirmed that it is up to the association whether they should reward Duff and the other players who played in the scoreless draw with the caps, even though it won't be recognised officially and won't be included in the next FIFA rankings update.

In a statement this afternoon, the FAI said that FIFA and UEFA have told them “the decision to award a cap is at the discretion of the National Association and that they do not keep a central record of caps.”

According to a report in today’s Irish Daily Star, a FIFA spokesman said the appointment of the assistant referee Mr David Vang Andersen was not ‘in compliance with the FIFA regulations’, and therefore isn’t considered to be an official game by the world governing body.

Andersen was not on the current FIFA list of referees at the time of the game.

The FAI added that “as an away match, the Hungarian FA was responsible for all aspects of the fixture. The Hungarian FA said this morning that they were unaware of the matter but have been in contact with FIFA.

“They said that they intend to continue their discussions with FIFA in order to have the fixture recognised for international ranking purposes. They have also confirmed that it is their intention to record the fixture as an international match for the purposes of caps.”

The result is not logged on the Ireland page of FIFA’s website, but remains on the FAI website.