FIFA Updates

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Zimbabwe’s soccer federation says it has suspended its
chief executive on allegations of match-fixing involving Asian betting
syndicates during a tournament in Malaysia.

The federation said it is investigating betting and bribery charges against
Henrietta Rushwaya related to the national team’s tour of Malaysia in December.

Zimbabwe lost to Syria 6-0 and to Thailand 3-0.

Rushwaya on Thursday denied wrongdoing and said she will cooperate with the
federation’s investigators.

The federation said it has reported the case to world governing body FIFA.

BAGHDAD (AP)—The president of the Iraqi Football Association said Sunday that
officials have postponed the FIFA-sanctioned presidential elections in Irbil
because there were not enough members present for the vote.

Hussein Saeed said some federation members had refused to travel to the
Kurdish city and instead gathered in Baghdad on Sunday to support Shiite
challenger Falah Hassan.

Saeed, the Sunni incumbent, said this triggered the postponement.

FIFA chose Irbil as a location for the vote after deeming Baghdad unsafe,
but the Iraqi government insisted the capital was safe.

FIFA has warned it would ban Iraq from international competition if the
country’s government interfered with the election.

Iraq’s 63-member federation has to elect a new president by the end of July.

BAGHDAD (AP)—The president of the Iraqi Football Association said Sunday that
officials have postponed the FIFA-sanctioned presidential elections in Irbil
because there were not enough members present for the vote.

Hussein Saeed said some federation members had refused to travel to the
Kurdish city and instead gathered in Baghdad on Sunday to support Shiite
challenger Falah Hassan.

Saeed, the Sunni incumbent, said this triggered the postponement.

FIFA chose Irbil as a location for the vote after deeming Baghdad unsafe,
but the Iraqi government insisted the capital was safe.

FIFA has warned it would ban Iraq from international competition if the
country’s government interfered with the election.

Iraq’s 63-member federation has to elect a new president by the end of July.

KHARTOUM, July 24 (Reuters) – Sudan risks a FIFA ban from
international soccer after the government said Football
Association president Kamal Shaddad could not run for a third
term this month.

The world governing body, which strongly objects to any
government interference in soccer, said on Saturday that Sudan
could be suspended or banned for barring candidates.

“Any election without respecting the SFA (Sudanese Football
Association) statutes and/or under governmental interference
will not be recognised by FIFA,” the world soccer governing body
said in a statement sent to Reuters on Saturday.

“In addition, such interference may lead to sanctions such
as suspension or expulsion.”

The head of the Sudanese Sports Commission, Al-Rayah
Wadatallah, told Reuters the decision to bar Shaddad was in line
with Sudanese law which says a candidate can not run for a third
term unless he held an international soccer job recognised by
the sports ministry. He said Shaddad did not hold such a post.

“Sudanese national law is in accordance with FIFA law,” said
Wadatallah.

This month FIFA threatened to expel Nigeria after President
Goodluck Jonathan banned the national team from international
soccer following the country’s first round exit at the World
Cup.

(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by John Mehaffey; To
query or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

BAGHDAD (AP)—Iraqi Football Association members held dueling meetings in two
cities to elect a new president Saturday, risking a FIFA ban from international
competition due to government interference.

The meetings were the latest development in the ongoing drama surrounding
who will lead the governing body of the country’s most popular sport. The battle
reflects the sectarian tensions prevalent in a country where just a few years
ago Sunnis and Shiites were battling in the streets.

Soccer officials backing the government’s candidate, a Shiite, met in
Baghdad, while supporters of the incumbent, a Sunni, gathered in the Kurdish
city of Irbil, along with observers from FIFA and the Asian Football
Confederation.

An official from the Iraqi association, Abdul-Khaliq Massoud, told The
Associated Press that they had failed to get a quorum in Irbil and the vote was
postponed until Sunday.

The Baghdad meeting was also delayed until Sunday. The deputy president of
the Association, Najeh Hamoud, said the postponement was designed so soccer
representatives in Baghdad could consult with officials in Irbil and try to
convince them to come to Baghdad, along with the observers.

Hamoud said the decision not to rush the vote underlined the officials’ keen
awareness of “a big responsibility” they have for Iraq’s soccer—the only
uniting factor for Iraqis during the worst years of sectarian bloodshed that
brought the country to the brink of civil war in 2005 and 2007.

“Football has been able to bring all Iraqis out on the streets … to cheer
in one voice for Iraq,” Hamoud said.

FIFA chose Irbil to stage the vote after deeming Baghdad too unsafe to send
international observers to monitor it. But Iraq’s government insisted on holding
it in Baghdad as a way of showing the country is stable after years of war.

Forty-three of the association’s 63 members attended the Baghdad meeting.
Most members said the capital was safe. They felt FIFA tried to impose its will
on Iraq by choosing Irbil for the vote, although nobody—including the main
challenger of the association’s current president—wanted a confrontation with
FIFA and the risk of a ban.

“We have the right to hold the election in Baghdad. We don’t want to go
head-to-head with FIFA. We know how strong they are,” said the Shiite candidate
for the presidency, Falah Hassan.

FIFA has warned Iraq it will be banned if the government interferes with the
election. Last year, Iraq was suspended for five months after Iraq’s Olympic
Committee dissolved the association because of alleged financial and
administrative irregularities and the repeated delaying of internal elections.
The ban was lifted in March.

FIFA’s representative at the Irbil meeting, Nidhal al-Hadidi, warned against
meetings being held in other locations.

“FIFA chose Irbil for the meeting,” he said, adding that any other meeting
“outside Irbil is considered illegal and illegitimate according to FIFA’s point
of view.”

Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government has long wanted to purge sports of any
officials with alleged ties to the deposed Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam
Hussein.

The Sunni candidate to run the association, Hassan Saeed, is a former
striker for Baghdad’s al-Talaba club and he is ranked 10th on FIFA’s list of
players with the most international caps. But critics allege he has ties to the
former regime and is suspected of corruption.

Hassan, a 60-year-old Shiite from Baghdad’s slum of Sadr City and a former
captain of Iraq’s best team, al-Zawra, is Saeed’s main rival for soccer’s top
job in Iraq.

In one indication of how high the tension has been raised, men in
military-style uniforms raided the federation’s offices on Sunday carrying
arrest warrants for several of its officials, including Saeed. The government
denied any responsibility for the raid.

Associated Press writer Yahya Barzanji in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this
report.