We show that the maximal subgroup of the free profinite semigroup associated
by Almeida to an irreducible sofic shift is a free profinite group,
generalizing an earlier result of the second author for the case of the full
shift (whose corresponding maximal subgroup is the maximal subgroup of the
minimal ideal). A corresponding result is proved for certain relatively free
profinite semigroups. We also establish some other analogies between the kernel
of the free profinite semigroup and the \J-class associated to an irreducible
sofic shift
