July 30 - Northern Ireland football officials have suffered a crushing defeat in their attempts to prevent players switching to play for Ireland.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne rejected an appeal by the Irish Football Association (IFA) against FIFA and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) allowing Belfast-born Daniel Kearns (pictured) to play for the Republic.
Kearns, 18, represented Northern Ireland at under-17 level but switched to play for the Republic this year and played in two European Under-19 Championship matches.
A statement from CAS said: "The CAS panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision issued by the single judge of the FIFA players' status committee, which recognised that Daniel Kearns was eligible to play for the national team of the FAI."
Under the Good Friday Agreement, Irish passports can be held by Irish citizens born on either side of the border.
However the IFA have been trying to prevent a talent drain of players and have been arguing that players born in Northern Ireland without family links to the south should not be allowed to play for the Republic.
Kearns, who was released by West Ham United at the end of last season, joined the likes of Manchester United's Darron Gibson and Portsmouth's Marc Wilson in switching allegiance from Northern Ireland to the Republic.
FIFA's players' status committee had ruled that Kearns fulfilled the requirements in that he had never represented Northern Ireland in an official competition at senior international level.
Northern Ireland's Sports Minister Nelson McCausland said: "I support the principle of sports bodies doing everything possible to encourage young talented players from Northern Ireland to go on to represent their country at international level, but I want to read the court's ruling in full before commenting further."
IFA President Raymond Kennedy said he was dismayed at the decision and added: "But we will continue to develop our very successful and wide range of Football for All and community programmes in the areas of grassroots, domestic and international football to ensure that anyone available to play for Northern Ireland will want to do.
"The Irish FA wished Kearns the best of luck for his future career but will wait to see the court's full judgment before making any further comment."
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