Damien Duff century confirmed after linesman mix-up

By DAMIAN SPELLMAN
Published on 21/09/2012 02:21

Damien Duff has retained his status as the fifth Republic of Ireland international to reach 100 caps despite being told he might not have completed a century after all.

He captained his country against Italy in their final group game at the Euro 2012 finals in Poznan on 18 June as he reached three figures.

But a report claimed that the warm-up game against Hungary on 4 June in which the 33-year-old Fulham midfielder, who announced his retirement from internationals last month, played, may not be recognised by Fifa because of a discrepancy with the match officials. But, after contacting both the governing body and the Hungarian FA, the Football Association of Ireland confirmed it had discretion to award caps for the friendly.

Doubt arose over assistant referee David Vang Andersen, who is not among the current list of Fifa referees, so they are not recognising the game for ranking purposes.

An FAI spokesman said: “The Hungarian FA 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.

“Fifa and Uefa also confirmed this morning that 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. The Football Association of Ireland has decided that the players who participated in the fixture deserve caps, particularly Damien Duff for the service that he gave to his country.”