Player Registration FAQs

No. The FAI Confirms the registration to the club. The League changes the player to STATUS ACTIVE in a competition.

All 22/23 Winter season leagues lists were migrated to FAI Connect and can be found in Competitions > My Competitions. to navigate to your team lists in each league, please follow the guide here > Migrated Player Lists from FAInet

It would be recommended to update profile images every 2-3 years. Clubs can update profile images for club members at any time via the person profile. A clear and good quality passport style photograph of the Player (including Futsal players), Coach, Official, Staff Member or Match Official must be uploaded during the registration. It will be the Clubs and/or League and/or Affiliated Associations or the Match Official’s (if applicable) responsibility to ensure that the photograph of the person is cropped on the system, maintained, and kept up to date throughout the period of registration.

Yes. All details will be merged across from the previous FMS on December 19th 2022.

Yes. All profile photos will be merged from the previous system to FAI Connect.

No, however, first registrations and transfers (Of profiles who migrated without a photo) on FAI Connect will require a photo id immediately when making the application, along with player profile photo and signed registration form.

There are no charges for the leagues with regards to FAI Connect. The clubs will be charged a levy of €2 for 8 to 16 years old’s and €3 for players aged 17 and above from the date of billing.

Yes. E-signatures are acceptable.

Clubs can contact faiconnect@fai.ie

Yes. However, all registrations must be processed through FAI Connect.

Yes. We can add ETP to the players history or add a retrospective registration type.

There are two types of registration. Registration to the club and registration to the competition. Applications will be centrally processed by FAI. This means that once players are confirmed with clubs, they will remain confirmed with the club until they set to STATUS TERMINATED by the club. In relation to the registration to a league the clubs will create rosters for each individual team, therefore once clubs are allocating rosters to respective leagues, league registrars will then make players active/inactive within the League Competitions. There is no need for a registration form prior to each season.

There will be no need to re-registration each season for players who will remain with the same club. A player must be assigned to a roster for the new competition, where a league registrar can then make active. The player’s eligibility can be restricted based off the competitions they are assigned to. Dual registration may still occur where a club may assign a player to different squads across multiple leagues, pending league rules. *This is the leagues responsibility to track the players eligibility*

No. Only a league can change the status of a player within the competition roster. A club, however, can TERMINATE a player from their club and in doing so will show as TERMINATED in the roster. This does not change the players status within the competition.

Yes.

Yes. You can add players to multiple rosters (squads).

No. The registration process is completely online, showing digital date and time stamp.

Players that are assigned into eligibility lists on the previous FMS (2022 Calendar Season, 22/23 Standard Season, and any new players for 2023 season) will be migrated across to FAI Connect in the status CONFIRMED. Players who are not assigned into an eligibility list on the previous FMS will be migrated to FAI Connect without a club (TERMINATED). 2022 Calendar Season players who were migrated across on the system and have not had any further registration activity on the system since 1st December 2022, will be “TERMINATED” by the FAI (with a retrospective termination date of 30th November applying) if the player has an application to join a new club beyond the 22^nd February 2023 (Re-Registration of Player).

No, only players assigned to a squad on the previous FMS, will migrate as STATUS CONFIRMED on FAI Connect. Non-Competitive Players can be assigned into an eligibility list at U12 age group on previous FMS with the list named “CLUB NAME – Non-Competitive Players” – this way the players will migrate over as CONFIRMED also.

We suggest that these players are status TERMINATED. They will remain in the system just not assigned to your club.

Once the players were assigned to squads on the previous FMS, they will migrate to FAI Connect as “Confirmed”, regardless of the eligibility date given by the league. If a player has an eligibility date prior to the migration, they will be ACTIVE in the Roster on FAI Connect. If a player has no eligibility date prior to the migration, they will be ENTERED in the Roster on FAI Connect.

The club can register players at any time, all player profiles will migrate across to FAI Connect. When a club registers the players (U7, U8, U9 etc) is entirely up to them, however it may be a league requirement to have players registered at specific age groups going forward in relation to Competition Management. Our advice would be to register players as young as possible, as this will reduce the workload over the long term and reduce the risk of duplication.

An application for registration of any Player must be Submitted to the Association via FAI CONNECT by no later than 12pm on the last Business Day prior to the match in which they wish to participate.

When the club adds players to the roster within the league competition(s), the league will then make the players ACTIVE so they can be selected on the team sheet on match day.

Yes. All coaches must register on FAI Connect. The process is the same as player registration. There is no charge for coaches on FAI Connect.

All data will be migrated from the previous FMS to FAI Connect. Volunteers will create their own MY COMET account and update their own Garda Vetting details through this platform. The club will register the volunteer to the club on FAI Connect so they can track the volunteers Garda Vetting.

Each club may have their own procedures in relation to recruiting new members. However, once a person registers for Garda Vetting, they will create a My Comet account within the course application, and they will receive a Comet ID reference number. All activity of the ID number via the My Comet & FAI Connect will be kept within the profile of the person. All licence and event types completed by the person will be visible in the addition tab of the person, which will include the status of each licence or event, the beginning date, and the expiry date.

Nothing. A transfer between 2 clubs on FAI Connect will be referred to as a “re-registration” going forward, as per updated FAI Handbook. Learn more in the FAI handbook.

The re-registration (transfer) process within FAI Connect does not include a transfer fee as per updated FAI Handbook. Learn more in the FAI handbook.

No. But league will be notified when the player has been added to a roster by a club.

No. The registration process is completely online, showing digital date and time stamp.

Yes. The individual email must be used. This is so no key information is missed or directed to the wrong contact.

Yes. All relevant parties will receive an automated mail regarding all information specific to the application.

The club will need to change the player to status TERMINATED if they are not staying with the club. For more details, please see the FAI Handbook section 6 regulation 2.4. Learn more in the FAI handbook.

The FAI will have the ability to step in if the re-registration (transfer) process is not being processed by the club (s). Please refer to FAI Handbook annex 1 regulation 8.6.4, Learn more in the FAI handbook.

No, the full competition management module is optional for leagues (fixtures, results, standings etc.) However, Roster Management is mandatory for the Registration of Player’s & Coaches to the Competition as per FAI Connect Regulations Annex 1 of FAI Handbook – Regulation 6 – Registration. Learn more in the FAI handbook.

For suspensions to be tracked in FAI Connect Competition Management must be used.

No. Everything can be online using the app or desktop site versions of FAI Connect, added by the clubs, and approved by the match Referee. However, printed match cards can be used at the discretion of the league(s) involved.

Yes. FAI Connect can bring on all National Cup competitions.

Yes. Fixtures could be created on FAI Connect by the league through Competition Management, which clubs would have access and visibility to. Fixture publishing can me restricted by league managers.

No. The league will need to be using competition management in order for a club to use the full capabilities. There may be National/Regional Competitions in which clubs can use the Competition Management Features.

Only leagues who have officially committed to competition management would have their allocated referees using the system. Referees may experience using the competition management features through National competitions.

This would be a league-by-league basis. Leagues could have separate guidelines with regards to team sheets.

Yes. This can be entered in the match day section. There is a number of automated and manual processes to enter match reports.

Yes. This is a straightforward process but may affect the scheduling if the competition has commenced.

No, this is a straightforward process. You can allocate squad numbers at the beginning of competitions as a mandatory requirement or submit game by game via desktop of Comet Football app.

Yes. Roster management is for selecting players for a squad for a competition or on match day. The individual player profile will display any leagues the player is assigned to. In addition to this within the roster the club/league can click on the players competitions and see all leagues that the player is registered to over a certain period.

This is defined by the league as per their competition rules. Squads can be restricted by a capped number or left open.

Yes. You can only remove players from that squad’s roster who are in the status ENTERED.

Please see the latest guide from FIFA for step by step insight into the process behind an international transfer FIFA GUIDE ON INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

• “The parents of the player moved for reasons not linked to football”
• “The player is moving for humanitarian reasons with his/her parents”
• “The player is an exchange student undertaking an academic programme abroad”
• “Player is registering for the first time and has lived continuously for the last five years in the country of intended registration prior to this request”
• Both player and club are within 50km of their common border and the distance between the two is less than 100km”

State if minor players previous club were signed to a club abroad. Minor applications can be processed during any open registration period

Ukrainian minors have an exemption on transferring (only Passport/Birth Cert and Signed registration form required)

Players under the age of 10 are exempt from requiring clearance (only Passport/Birth Cert and Signed registration form required)

Players signed/registered within last 30 months with club abroad will require an ITC. Players who have not signed/played in last 30 months abroad do not require an ITC. State if the player has played amateur or professionally at previous club.

Players coming from USA college scholarships do not require ITC.

ITC applications can only be processed during the transfer windows (SUMMER and WINTER).

All players (adults/minors) coming from abroad will be processed in the International Transfer section. All foreign national and Irish players coming from abroad need to be saved as Submitted (INT).

Yes. The system recognises all nationalities. When setting up a user profile this is a mandatory field.

No. The player will not show unless he/she was previously registered within an FAI football management system. In this instance the club creates a new first issue registration (INT), once the ITC/FIFA Minor application has been approved the FAI Connect staff can then process the application and create a retrospective registration for the previous club’s details.

No. Similar to the previous FMS system specific documents will be required based on a need for an ITC/FIFA Minor Application. The club can upload the mandatory documents as required into FAI Connect with the registration/application. For further information regarding ITC/FIFA Minor applications please contact fran.gavin@fai.ie or david.doyle@fai.ie.

It is important to ensure that the person being registered is verifiable and eligible to play as a registered player. This is important for the integrity of competition. The upload of a photo ID is also something that is required by FIFA for the purposes of International Transfers. Clubs should ensure that any collection of player photographs from members is done in a secure way and in accordance with data protection legislation requirements.

Yes. FAI Connect is a secure from a technical perspective with appropriate encryption measures which maintain the highest standards, all protected using ISO27001 and ISO22301. There is a strict authorised user hierarchy implemented as part of the software design. It is a system that is used by c.45 Football Associations worldwide (and 25 in Europe).

Please see the FAI Connect Privacy Notice

Yes, an identity document of the player (such as passport, birth certificate or other form or ID with name. date of birth and photograph) will be required to be uploaded on to FAI Connect. This is to verify age, gender and identity of players to protect the integrity of competition and other reasons such as player safety and having accurate data on the system. Each administrator must take all necessary steps to delete all documentation from their own device/application once it has been uploaded on to FAI Connect.

The players profile can only be viewed by the club administrator, league administrator and the FAI who have appropriate security permissions. The players profile photo is defaulted to be publicly hidden. Other details of the profile such as name/age can also be hidden.

The system will recognise if the date of birth is that of a minor. Then the parent/guardian email will automatically default to be the primary contact information required.

No. FAI Connect will require both a parent/guardian signature on the form and ID document that can confirm name and date of birth.

Yes. There are several specific club areas where documents, such as the clubs privacy notice, can be uploaded on FAI Connect.

Yes. A club or League can link their website from FAI Connect.

Please refer to our video that will guide you through garda vetting and all things safeguarding related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95lSqkt5e4

Yes. A notification will be sent to the club and the person.

Yes. All licences will be visible to the club admins.

Email childwelfare@fai.ie

The selected club user will have access to the player details. They will make changes to a profile as needed.

No. This will be at the discretion of the club. The club will select their own FAI Connect users.