FIFA issues red notice to Sri Lanka
The Special General Meeting was held during mid-September, with FIFA and AFC officials as observers, only to find the FFSL administration was not valid
A week after Ministry of Sports introduced a series of intrusive and restrictive regulations compromising the autonomy and independence of registered national sports bodies in the country, Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) has received a red notice from the global body (FIFA) and the regional body, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Under the new regulations, no one over the age of 70 is eligible to contest elections. Also ruled out are those who have completed four two year terms in office, those who have been found guilty of corruption and financial irregularities, those with dual citizenship, Sports Ministry officials and those who failed to declare their assets and liabilities for three years before the nominations.
The letter dated December 22, and signed by Kenny Jean-Marie, the Chief Member Associations Officer of FIFA and Vahid Kardany, the Deputy General Secretary, Member Associations of AFC, and addressed to Upali Hewage, the immediate past General Secretary of FFSL, says
Sri Lanka could face suspension if the pending issues are not viably addressed.
“We kindly ask the FFSL to provide us by no later than 3 January 2023 with an adjusted roadmap in line with our previous mutual understanding, foreseeing without further ado the election of a new executive committee for a four-year term as per the FFSL statutes adopted on 22 September 2022. Should no election take place in compliance with the aforementioned framework, the matter will be submitted to our relevant decision-making body for further consideration and possible sanction based on FIFA Statutes, including the suspension of the FFSL,” the letter states.
This was not the first occasion FIFA and AFC had contacted their member association in Sri Lanka. Earlier they issued at least three correspondences asking FFSL to amend the existing Constitution with importance, after a statutory review process and electoral code.
In fact FIFA has been reminding FFSL since early 2015, to remodel its Constitution.
After several reminders from various parties, including FIFA, AFC and the country’s Ministry of Sports, FFSL adopted the new Constitution at a Special General Meeting on September 22, 2022 in the presence of FIFA and AFC officials.
However, a Special Gazette issued on September 17 by the Sports Ministry made all national sports associations who had failed to conduct their Annual General Meetings in time, dissolved. This included FFSL headed by Jaswar Umar who were entrusted with the remodeling of its Constitution inline with the FIFA Statutes.
But even after an extension of three months from June 30 earlier this year, and a further grace period, Umar and his team failed to meet the requirements of FIFA, AFC and the Sports Ministry. Certain quarters of local football were critical on their behaviour, which they termed as ‘clearly misguiding the concerned local, regional and global sports bodies’ FFSL managed to hold a SGM after consulting FIFA and AFC, but after their official tenure was termed invalid by the Sports Ministry.
“First and foremost FIFA and the AFC would like to recall that a roadmap has already been agreed upon following a first mission to Colombo on 5-8 September 2022 during which extensive discussions took place with the respective representatives of the FFSL and the Ministry of Sport (cf.FIFA-AFC letter dated 8 September 2022). In particular, it was agreed that the election of the new FFSL executive committee would take place by the end of October 2022 based on the new statutes adopted by the FFSL general assembly prior thereto. Eventually, a joint FFSL-AFC mission visited Colombo to observe the said general assembly on 22 September 2022 which successfully adopted the new FFSL statues. FIFA and the AFC therefore consider that the FFSL statutes as adopted on 22 September 2022 represent the statutory basis on which the FFSL must operate and organise its upcoming elections,” the letter further stated.
But FIFA and AFC have bounced back on its original observation after it was discovered that the FFSL administration was not a valid entity by the time the SGM took place. To further complicate matters, FFSL then filed a case against the Ministry of Sports and even made top officials of FIFA and AFC as respondents, with intentions to ‘protect national and public interest of the sport’.
“In this regard, FIFA and the AFC are of the view that the new roadmap would undoubtedly put in jeopardy the effort and progress made in the past few months in the context of our initial roadmap.
“Against this background, we would like to refer the FFSL to its statutory obligation to manage its affairs independently and to ensure that its own affairs are not unduly influenced by any third parties. Furthermore, according to art. 14 par. 2 and 3 of the FIFA Statutes, please take note that violation of the aforementioned obligation may lead to sanctions provided for in the FIFA Statutes, even if the third-party influence is not that fault of the member association concerned,” warned the letter, which interestingly comes a week after the Ministry of Sports gazetted new sports regulations to the existing Sports Act.
This letter along with a covering letter have been forwarded to the country’s Executive President by the FFSL ex-president and secretary general who has sought advice ‘to take necessary steps before the deadline on the 3rd of January 2023’.
The covering letter highlights the adverse impact Sri Lanka would face.
“A worldwide ban on Sri Lanka will create adverse impacts not only for football or sports, but also for the progress our country is making after the worst economic, social, and political impact in the recent past”, the letter addressed to President Ranil Wickremasinghe reads.
Without explaining on what led the warning from FIFA and AFC, the letter simply states that they have received a letter from FIFA and AFC and that their letter is ‘self-explanatory’, and that the letter is being forwarded to the President of the country with the ‘absence of an elected Executive Body for football at present’. The letter includes a tempting paragraph which says “FIFA is an organisation which is working closely with the United Nations, IMF, World Bank and various international agencies to support rebuild nations which are affected economically or socially by using the popularity and the power of football”, which hardly has a connection to the present calamity of FFSL.
FFSL election is scheduled for January 14 and Umar and Hewage are among those standing for election.