SAN FRANCISCO, December 25, (THEWILL) – On Thursday, the Bureau of the FIFA Council publicised the decisions it reached concerning the governance of two member associations. The associations involved are the Ivorian Football Association (FIF) regarding their electoral process and the Pakistani Football Federation (PFF) which required an extension of FIFA’s normalisation committee.
Normalisation committee appointed for the Ivorian Football Association (FIF)
The Bureau decided to appoint a normalisation committee for FIF pursuant to art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes. This is consequent upon the failure of the country’s football governing bodies to carry out an electoral process for a new Executive Committee in accordance with the statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to all FIFA member associations.
FIFA’s engagement with FIF led to the discovery that the association’s failure is attributable to the inherent weaknesses in its governance structures and processes, including contradictions in the FIF Statutes and Electoral Code that are still unresolved.
The danger inherent in such contradictions was obvious to invested parties of FIF as they significantly impacted the flawed electoral process conducted and that remained mired in dispute. It was further taken into account the fact that the mandate of the executive had already ended and leadership was required.
The FIFA Ivorian normalisation committee is tasked with the following mandate:
• To run FIF’s daily affairs;
• To partially review the FIF Statutes and Electoral Code (where necessary for elections) to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements, and to ensure their adoption by the FIF General Assembly;
• To review the statutes of some stakeholders; and
• As a last step, to act as an electoral committee in order to organise and conduct elections of a new FIF Executive Committee based on the newly aligned FIF Statutes and Electoral Code.
The composition of the committee will consist of a suitable number of members, who will be designated jointly by FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Each of them will be subject to an eligibility check carried out by the FIFA Review Committee in accordance with the FIFA Governance Regulations.
Though it is part of the mandate of the committee to also serve as an electoral committee, for the purpose of transparency and accountability, none of its members will be eligible for the positions to be filled during the elections.
Its mandate will expire on Friday, December 31, 2021.
Mandate of Pakistani Football Federation (PFF) normalisation committee extended
The Bureau also decided to extend the mandate of the PFF normalisation committee. Its lifetime was due to expire on Thursday, December 31 and the extension was considered crucial until all assigned tasks have been completed, but no later than Wednesday, June 30 2021.
Central to the objective for making this decision was allowing the normalisation committee to fulfil all of the tasks entrusted to it in its mandate before dissolving it.
Furthermore, the decision of the chairman of the normalisation committee to step down from his position by the end of 2020, means that the world football governing body will appoint a new chairperson in due course, who will have to pass an eligibility check to be carried out by the FIFA Review Committee in accordance with the FIFA Governance Regulations, just as in the case of the Ivorian committee.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
