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Gambia: Fifa, Gambia reach agreement over FA crisis

Fifa has reached an agreement with Gambia authorities to avoid probable sanctions following government interference in the dissolution of the country's football federation earlier in March.

After a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday between Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Gambia sports minister Alieu Jammeh, both sides agreed to set up a normalisation committee to handle the affairs of the Gambia Football Association (GFA) until new elections in September.

“The tasks assigned to the normalisation committee include the adoption of new statutes in line with Fifa recommendations and the organisation of the elections of a new board according to the new statutes,” a Fifa spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

The minister dismissed the FA president Seedy MB Kinteh on March 2 and disbanded the body for the lack of a significant improvement in the country’s football

The new agreement does not stipulate the reinstatement of the ousted executive committee.

 

Orange 2013 Afcon winner to get confederations spot

Winners of the Orange 2013 Afcon to be played in South Africa will get the sole ticket to the Confederations Cup finals in Brazil later on in the year.

Current champions Zambia should have been heading to Brazil had Caf not moved the continental tournament to being played in every odd year, but Chipolopolo will now have to start off from scratch again.

“The fact that winners of the tournament will represent the continent at the Confederations Cup later in the year is a motivational factor that will increase the interest in the tournament,” 2013 Nations Cup CEO Mvuzo Mbebe said at a press conference.

“Everyone will want to win it for that reason and we should expect some great football from all the teams that will qualify.”
“We will be engaging everyone with regards to the tournament. If it is not the World Cup it will not sell itself. Even the choice of venues for matches will be influenced by the African Diaspora profile of that host city plus we also want to make sure that tickets are accessible and affordable.

“We should not run away from xenophobia but use the Afcon as a platform to bridge the gap of making people live in harmony together. We must use football to eliminate xenophobia,” said Mbebe.