VOTE AT CONGRESS URGES OGURA

Against a backdrop of controversies and intense politicking, FIFA and Asian Football Confederation executive committee member Junji Ogura called on all Member Associations and the authorities concerned to convene the May 8^th AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur in accordance with the decisions of FIFA.

In a faxed statement to members, AFC executive Committee, presidents and general secretaries of Member Associations, Ogura of Japan reiterated the stand of FIFA Legal Affairs Department on three issues that had become a major source of discontentment within certain quarters of the Asian body.

The three are – the voting rights of five associations in relation to participation in competitions, voting rights of Kuwait Football Association, and the legality of the AFC legal ad-hoc committee as a decision-making unit.

“On the question of competitions, FIFA has verified that the Under-13, Under-14, and the World Cup qualifiers are considered Confederations competitions,” said Ogura.

On the issue of KFA’s eligibility to vote, FIFA had cleared them, as the interim body – in this case the Normalisation Committee –was formed by the world body and AFC, and was therefore allowed to vote in the coming Congress.

“And as for the AFC legal ad-hoc committee, FIFA had said that the committee had no power to make any binding decisions, and that the Congress is the supreme body to decide on voting rights.”

The AFC legal ad-hoc committee had decided that five nations – Brunei, Laos, Mongolia, Timor Lester, and Afghanistan – couldn’t vote for not participating in at least three competitions from 200-2009, while Kuwait FA were ineligible by virtue of being run by an interim body.

Meanwhile three of the National associations affected expressed joy in being able to participate in the Congress with voting rights.

“It is with pleasure to know about the FIFA’s legal opinion regarding the eligibility of Mongolia to vote in the AFC Congress,” said B. Ganbold, General Secretary of the Mongolian Football Federation.

“FIFA’s comments are absolutely fair that the AFC U13 and AFC U14 Festivals of Football as well as 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Preliminaries should be considered as AFC Competitions. Moreover, it is also correct to fix the reporting period as period from Congress to Congress.

“Therefore, I would like to emphasize that the above-said could serve as a strong ground for considering our participation in the AFC competitions to be good enough and that the decisions for application of Article 10.3.5 of the AFC Statutes is not applicable in our case.

“We believe that the AFC will take into consideration fair and objective clarification of FIFA and will find flexible approach to this issue and make the solution intended solely for the promotion of Asian football, not for imposing the sanction on member associations.”

Brunei were not as vocal as their Mongolian counterparts.

All I would like to say at this point is that, we are happy that we are able to vote,” said Brunei FA General Secretary Pengiran Mattussin
Laos Football Federation president Phouvanh Vongsouthi echoed the same sentiments.

“We are happy that the air has been cleared and that we can vote with a easy mind.”