John Delaney is 47 years old.

At 34, he became treasurer of the Football Association of Ireland and, in 2004, he became chief executive of the organisation. He's also the man who - if his story checks out - set a precedent which, theoretically at least, could change the course of sporting history.

Just as you can sue a doctor for malpractice if he or she messes up your surgery, so too can a team take legal action against a sporting organisation for a refereeing decision.

In 2009, Ireland faced France in a two-legged play-off to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. They lost the first leg at home, 1-0, but found themselves 1-0 up in the return leg at the end of 90 minutes. The game went into extra-time when, with 17 minutes remaining, Thierry Henry handled the ball to keep it in play, unseen by the Swedish referee, Martin Hansson. It fell to William Gallas and he equalised, putting France ahead 2-1 on aggregate, a lead they never relinquished.

Henry's gesture earned him the moniker of cheat, along with much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair. The FAI demanded a replay, and FIFA said no. To most it looked as if the Irish had merely been on the receiving end of a gross and costly officiating error.

But Delaney, as it now emerged, took it further. He threatened legal action and FIFA agreed a settlement whereby they paid the FAI €3 million. It came in the form of a loan to build a stadium and was later written off as bad debt.

According to to the settlement, which was leaked this week, the FAI "lodged certain requests to FIFA based on the match and its failure to qualify" but was willing to "irrevocably and unconditionally accept the referee's decision as final and waive any and all claims against FIFA". In the very next paragraph, FIFA agrees to loan the FAI €5m and award them a $400,000 development grant "as an inducement to enter into this agreement".

The agreement is signed by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke, his deputy Markus Kattner and Delaney. Five years later, the loan was written off by FIFA, due to the FAI's inability to pay it back, according to a separate statement released on Friday.

When it comes to FIFA these days, you're prone to believe just about anything because, well, our worst suspicions have been confirmed. But this one might take the cake.

Still, it's hard to believe that FIFA would ever accept such a deal for the simple reason that no court is going to offer legal redress for an honest mistake. Unless the FAI were able to show that it was not an "honest mistake" - that the official was knowingly incompetent, or drunk, or high or corrupt - it's unclear which tribunal, other than perhaps the Delaney Family Court, would ever offer damages in such a situation. Were that the case, we would have a steady stream of legal claims every weekend in most leagues.

The most basic tenet of sports officiating - the referee's judgement is final - would be violated. And it would set a precedent that could be applied to any sport.

So what did happen?

We don't know. Other than the fact that matters at FIFA are far worse than we thought. If there's something else we don't know that might explain what occurred, then football needs to find out. And in double-quick time.

This amounts to "hush money" as Raymond Domenech, manager of France at the time, pointed out. And you only pay hush money if you are covering up a crime. A genuine refereeing error is not a crime. Unless it was something else.

As for Delaney, he's basically incriminated himself here. People tend only to do that if they're fools or if there's a reason. You shudder to think what that might be.

In the bizarro-world that is FIFA, as we said, everything is possible. And we're getting further evidence of this every day. But perhaps the Delaney hush money story is trumped by another, one which stretches the imagination even further.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo, a generally respected outfit, claimed that Sepp Blatter was romantically involved with the Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, who you may recall as being Cristiano Ronaldo's former girlfriend. Assuming, for obvious reasons, that this occurred after her 18th birthday, it must have happened some time between 2002 and 2015, when Blatter was aged between 66 and 79.

The paper cites Blatter's official biographer, Bruno Affentranger, as saying: "He is quite a charmer, he knows how to get close to them."

Shayk, who is now dating Hollywood star Bradley Cooper, described the tale as "absolute nonsense".

And it undoubtedly is. What's terrifying is that there are people around Blatter who might even suggest that the man's charm is so intoxicating that he can seduce a supermodel 50 years his junior. Presumably without a FIFA Goal Project Development Grant.

On a more serious note, Blatter's resignation and the threat of future indictments has left FIFA's future up in the air, as well as that of Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. Nobody has yet stepped forward as a potential candidate as the powerbrokers - Michel Platini at UEFA, Issa Hayatou in Africa and Sheikh Salman in Asia - try to figure out who to back and what the lay of the land is.

Basically, everything is in play, including the two World Cups. Legally, according to FIFA statutes, it does not take much to order a re-vote on a World Cup. You simply have to prove that there has been political interference or corruption. And the threshold of evidence suggests that, as far as Qatar is concerned, we're already there: Platini said he voted for them because the French president asked him to.

But if the World Cup does go ahead, here's something FIFA's new regime ought to consider going forward: apply the same legal principles regarding "sweatshop" laws that the European Union uses with certain trading partners.

In other words, if you want us to do business with you, you must apply minimum requirements in terms of labour rights and worker safety. It's not too late to do it with either Russia or Qatar. Not only would it save lives - if applied properly - it would also restore a bit of lustre to the World Cup-organising nations.

Sadly, conditions in Qatar are well-documented. And as far as Russia are concerned, they actually passed a law which goes in the opposite direction. The "FIFA legislation" approved earlier this year by Russia actually suspends a number of labour laws so that facilities and infrastructure can be built more quickly and cheaply.