FIFA could give the Egyptian Football Association a hard knock if its demands are not met. Inas Mazhar explains where we went wrong FIFA's deadline warning to the Egyptian Football Association to reverse its decision to have the government appoint the association ends today. FIFA has warned the EFA that it will take punitive measures towards Egypt if no explanation is presented to FIFA by today giving reasons for the government's interference in the EFAs restructuring. EFA elections may now have to be postponed for a fifth time to allow new candidates to put their papers in order. FIFA has warned that it will not recognise the outcome of the planned elections should the Cairo government ignore its decisions. According to BBC sports on-line, EFA interim President Abdou Saleh El- Wahsh said, "We also need to consider FIFA's previous decisions in similar scenarios. I'm not sure whether we will be able to hold the elections as planned." The crisis began following the government's decision to increase the association's Congress from 40, as proposed by the former EFA appointed President Essam Abdel-Moneim, to 84, leading to Abdel-Moneim's resignation and that of the entire committee. "We decided to quit because what is happening at the moment is total chaos," Abdel-Moneim said at a press conference, adding he would not run in elections on 10 June. Abdel-Moneim said he believed there were "traitors" who informed FIFA about the changes, adding that they did it for their own interests. "Raising the number to 84 means more votes to them." According to EFA officials, a letter was sent to FIFA explaining that the government and the EFA had decided to increase the number of congress members to allow active members in EFA the right to vote in the elections. Meanwhile, the Youth Ministry, headed by Mamdouh El-Beltagui, has decided that only people who have played football could contest for the EFA presidency, vice presidency and treasurer. This annulled the previous decision of the EFA that people who did not have a background in football would be eligible to contest the posts. According to El-Wahsh, there are members who practice football and therefore cannot be deprived of their right "as long as they don't take part in premier, first or second division league competitions."
