John Delaney (born 16 October 1967) is a former Irish sports administrator. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Football Association of Ireland from March 2005 to March 2019, and its Executive Vice President from March to September. He agreed to a voluntary suspension of all duties in September 2019 following journalistic investigation into the financial management of the Association. Life Born in Waterford, John Delaney is one of five children of Joe and Joan Delaney. His siblings are a brother, Paul, and three sisters, Joanne, Jane and Mary Pat. His family were removed to County Tipperary when he was about three, and he grew up later in Tipperary Town. As a schoolboy he played Gaelic games as well as soccer, and lined out for St Michaels of Tipperary and Tralee Celtic of Kerry. Business life Delaney's early career was in business, beginning with a bakery in Tralee, and by 2002 he owned three companies in Waterford and had other business interests in Athlone. He sold a logistics business in 2002. After studies at Waterford IT, Delaney qualified as a chartered accountant but as of September 2016 had not gone through the formality of joining Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). Soccer administration John Delaney joined the board of directors of soccer club Waterford United in 1996, in which capacity he represented the club on the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) Senior Council, and in the League of Ireland. He was elected Treasurer of the FAI in July 2001, the youngest man to hold the position. His father, Joe, had held the same position previously. CEO and the Aviva Stadium Delaney rose to prominence in the wake of the 2002 Keane Saipan saga, having emerged as the FAI's public figurehead during the affair. He became acting chief executive of the organisation in December 2004, after Fran Rooney's acrimonious departure, and took up the role full-time in March 2005. In November 2006, his contract was extended to 2012. In July 2010, the FAI's Board of Directors agreed to extend his contract again, until 2015, 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