The international friendly played on June 4th between Hungary and the Republic of Ireland may not be recognised as an official match by world governing body FIFA, the Irish Federation (FAI) said on Thursday.
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 have announced 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 last of which was as captain against Italy during the 2-0 defeat in their final pool match.
However the Irish Federation have assured the Fulham player will not see his caps tally diminished in any way and that European governing body UEFA and FIFA leave it to the discretion of national associations to award caps.
Source: AFP
