Ranga and MoS left with no option, than to surrender
Sri Lankan sports authorities will have to rethink and revise their strategies in dealing with local sport governing bodies after FIFA confirmed the suspension imposed on Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) at this week’s FIFA congress with 197 members supporting the move.
FIFA’s 73rd Congress was held on Thursday in Kigali, Rwanda where a vote was taken to confirm the suspension issued in January this year.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was reelected for another four-year term read the motion against FFSL, recapping the global football governing body’s decision to initially suspend Sri Lanka on January 21, a week after J. Sri Ranga was elected as President of FFSL. Infantino summed up that the Bureau of FIFA suspension couple of months ago ‘due to third party interference’.
“In particular it was the interference of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in the electoral process of the FFSL, and the deviation of the Road Map that was agreed upon by FIFA, FFSL and the Ministry of Sports itself, which obviously constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes. The FIFA Council ratified this decision of the Bureau on February 14, 2023. Therefore it is recommended by the Council that the Congress confirm this suspension of FFSL, enabling however again to the Council to lift the suspension as soon as the pertained requirements have been fulfilled,” explaining the reasons, Infantino told the gathering of nearly 2000 football delegates from across the world.
Initially, Zimbabwe was stamped with a similar ban moments before, with 199 member associations from a total of 211, voting in favour of the motion. In Sri Lanka’s turn, a total of 197 member associations raised their hands in favour of the motion, handing the island nation its biggest ever blow in football history.
“From the present, 197 member associations voted for the suspension of FFSL, meaning that Sri Lanka will effectively reconfirm that it is not entitled to vote at this Congress nor exercise any of its membership rights,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, who conducted the poll, stated after the voting process.
This only makes Sri Lanka’s road to recovery a more of challenging affair, as FIFA does not recognise the FFSL Executive Committee elected on January 14. J. Sri Ranga was elected President, but only eight out of 11 slots of the Executive Committee were filled, leaving three vacant. With unexpected turn of events, four officials – the Secretary General, Treasurer and two Vice Presidents – resigned from their respective positions within a month, leaving only four to run the affairs until May 31, the due date of expiration of Ranga’s term.
Last week, according to inside sources, even without a proper quorum, which is at least six Executive Committee members according to the FFSL Constitution, Ranga has handpicked individuals to fill the vacated and unfilled positions.
The Ministry of Sports, in a letter drafted in English dated March 10, endorsed the new appointments, but four days later they reverted the decisions in another letter drafted in the local language, Sinhala, as customarily done, stating that FFSL should follow its own constitution and the country’s Sports Law and Regulations pertaining to filling, appointing and reappointing to positions.
According to the FFSL Constitution, any such appointments should be done at a Special General Meeting and a Council Meeting, which is unlikely to take place with the situation that remains at FFSL. With the Ministry of Sports declaring the appointments null and void, Ranga is left in the dark, as he has, according to reliable sources, lost the support of almost the entire membership due to various reasons.
With FIFA confirming the suspension, Sri Lanka has no other option than to let the Ministry of Sports take the lead and communicate with FIFA on the possible ways out. The present FFSL administration, elected on January 14, will have no say with FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), as the global and regional bodies still recognise former President Jaswar Umar as its legitimate representative. This is evident in the FIFA and AFC official websites, where the names of the former FFSL administration are still visible as the ‘chosen ones’.
According to the conditions of FIFA, Sri Lanka should forward an ‘official and written exemption from the current national sports law to be legally granted to the FFSL/Sri Lankan football in order to guarantee the recognition and implementation of the newly adopted FFSL Statutes on September 22 of 2022’.
FIFA further explains that ‘the FFSL administration to be fully in-charge of the FFSL’s daily affairs until a new FFSL Executive Committee is elected because the elections of January 14, 2023 are not recognised by either FIFA or the AFC’, according to the official FIFA website.
The FIFA has clearly instructed that ‘elections for a new FFSL Executive Committee to be organised as per the newly adopted FFSL Statutes on September 22 of 2022, especially by secret ballot and for a four-year mandate’.
These conditions mean that the FFSL administration under Ranga, will only have the option of stepping down and letting a Competent Authority or a Normalisation Committee, as per the FIFA norm, take over and repair the damages that were caused during the course of recent years.