Blatter: FIFA to step in to reinstate Egypt FA
Reuters - Sunday 05 February 2012, 17:47
FIFA will take steps to
reinstate Egypt's Football Association (EFA), suspended by Cairo
after 74 people died in violence at a match in Port Said, FIFA
President Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.
Blatter, attending an extraordinary congress of the South
American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) at its Paraguay
headquarters, said the EFA's suspension after Wednesday's
violence was a direct intervention into football affairs which
FIFA could not accept.
"The information we have received at FIFA confirms the
number of dead as 74. It was also confirmed that the [Egyptian]
government intervened directly by suspending the football
association," Blatter told a news conference.
"We are going to take up the case from tomorrow [Monday] so
that this association is reinstated because it is the [body]
that has the responsibility to organise the competitions and it
must carry on (its work)," the president of world football's
governing body said.
The incident, when fans invaded the pitch in Port Said after
home team Al-Masry beat Cairo giants Al-Ahli, was Egypt's worst
football disaster and Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri sacked the
EFA board.
It was also the incident with the highest number of victims
in Egypt since an uprising brought down the government of Hosni
Mubarak early last year.
Most of the deaths were among people trampled in the crush
of the panicking crowd. Demonstrators who staged anti-government
protests after the incident blamed the country's military
authorities.
"FIFA's number one objective is to protect football, protect
the association and naturally ensure these situations are not
repeated," Blatter said.
"But we also need a police [force] or army because in
football we don't have the power to intervene directly."
The CONMEBOL congress attended by Blatter decided to modify
its statutes to reduce the intervention of regional governments
in football affairs.
Its president, Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, recalled the case in
2008 when FIFA suspended Peru from all football after the
Peruvian government declared the re-election of the country's
football federation president Manuel Burga illegal because of
allegations of corruption.
"We have had problems in some South American countries
because some governments have become involved in issues that are
exclusively for the sporting authorities. The new statute
follows clear FIFA laws on this matter," Leoz said.
Blatter also said he was confident Brazil would be ready on
time to stage the 2014 World Cup finals.
"One matter we have [pending] is to obtain all the
guarantees from the political authorities. We still lack some
guarantees but at the end of March we will have everything and
I'm sure Brazil will organise a great World Cup," he said.