Bosnia banned from world soccer by FIFA, UEFA

Bosnia-Herzegovina was suspended from soccer by FIFA and UEFA on Friday and threatened with expulsion from the 2012 European Championship

The ban on Bosnia's national and club teams playing internationally was imposed because its soccer federation is split on ethnic lines and refused requests to replace a three-member presidency with a single leader.
“FIFA and UEFA deeply regret that this decision had to be taken,” the governing bodies said in a joint statement.
They will meet soon “to discuss the next steps required to try to bring (Bosnia) back into the football family as soon as possible.”
FIFA could install an emergency panel to run the federation's affairs and allow Bosnia's teams, referees and officials to work internationally.
In recent years, the world body has appointed so-called “normalization committees” with mandates of up to 12 months in El Salvador, Kuwait, Senegal and Samoa.
Bosnian soccer is run on similar lines to its politics, and the federation's presidency is shared by a Bosnian, a Croat and a Serb.
The situation was tolerated because FIFA and UEFA were aware of Bosnia's political problems and ethnic divisions after the 1992-95 war.
Last October, the executive committees of FIFA and UEFA set Bosnia a March deadline to modernize its statutes or a suspension would be automatically triggered.
At a meeting in Sarajevo on Tuesday, Bosnian Serbs opposed the single president plan because they fear it could jeopardize their autonomy.
“Consequently, the (Bosnian federation) has lost all of its membership rights with immediate effect and until further notice,” FIFA said.
Many Bosnian officials and fans believe the suspension punishes people who backed FIFA's and UEFA's rules and rewards those in the Serb half of the country who don't support Bosnia's national team. They view the national team of neighboring Serbia as their own, and would not be unhappy to see the Bosnian team suspended.
Bosnia is scheduled to resume its Euro 2012 program on June 3 in Romania, which it beat 2-1 in Zenica last Saturday, and host Albania on June 7. It has never appeared at a major tournament as an independent team.
UEFA has not officially discussed options for Euro 2012 if Bosnia cannot fulfill its matches, but could expel the team and wipe its results from the Group D records.
In the national league standings, Borac Banja Luka from the Serb region has an eight-point lead and faces being denied a first entry into UEFA's Champions League qualifying round next season.
Borac director Radmilo Sipovac told The Associated Press he hoped a compromise could be reached before matches begin in July.
“We believe that FIFA and UEFA will form a committee of normalization for the Bosnian football association and that by the time the qualifications for the (Champions League) are to start, we will find a solution so the clubs and the national team would not suffer,” Sipovac said.
While suspended, Bosnia also has its grants from the world and European soccer bodies frozen, and loses the right to attend the FIFA Congress on June 1 in Zurich. Up to 208 national associations are scheduled to vote in the FIFA presidential election.