Will the world of football witness a clash between the game's world governing body FIFA and one of its members' associations, CAF? Inas Mazhar wonders Months ago, the International Football Federation Association (FIFA) banned two African officials, Tunisia's Slim Aloulou and Mali's Amadou Diakite, one and two years respectively, from all football activities. Both men, supposedly suspended from the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) executive committee and former members of FIFA's executive committee, were found guilty of unethical conduct by FIFA's Ethics Committee in November last year. The sentences were confirmed by the Appeals Committee in February, with a reduction in the length of their bans and fines. Based on the length of the sanctions imposed, Aloulou cannot return to football administration until November 2011, whilst Diakite's exile ends in the same month in 2012. The suspension was carried out, until Osasu Obayiuwana, a columnist at the Nigerian Next newspaper, unveiled that CAF was about to break FIFA's decision and asked in his weekly column 'Point Blank' published earlier this week, whether FIFA will hammer CAF for its act of defiance. Obayiuwana revealed in his column published earlier this week: "But in the strange world that is CAF, the mandarins of the continental body operate in an alternate universe. In the appointments list for its various commissions/committees, valid from June 2011 until 2013, which was released on June 28, with a covering letter signed by Hicham Amrani, CAF's acting general secretary (but emailed to the members of the executive committee on the 30th of last month - a high-ranking member of CAF passed the documents and accompanying email to me) - Messrs Aloulou and Diakite, believe it or not, got appointments into some of CAF's commissions/committees." Aloulou, a co-opted member of the CAF executive committee before his FIFA ban took effect last November, was appointed to the following positions: President of the Organising Committee for the African Youth Championship, Vice-President of the Organising Committee for the African U-17 Championship, Member of CAF's Inter-Club Competitions Committee, and Member of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) Organising Committee. Diakite, an elected member of the CAF Executive Committee before the imposition of FIFA's suspension, was also appointed as a member of the Inter- Club Competitions Committee. Obayiuwana continues: "When I initially emailed FIFA, to point out what is evidently a clear breach of their judicial rulings, to which CAF and every official working for the continental body is subject to, this is what they had to say, a few weeks ago: If the wording of a decision is 'suspended on national and international level', then the suspended person cannot take part in any football related activity at a worldwide level and can therefore not be employed by a confederation." When FIFA asked CAF to explain Aloulou's appointment, this was the curious response their media department got back from the CAF headquarters in Cairo on 8 July: "FIFA has received confirmation from CAF that CAF fully respects the ruling and that Slim Aloulou is not taking part in any football related matter." "Really? To borrow the famous angry words of tennis legend John McEnroe, "you cannot be serious!" Can anyone explain to me, or anyone else, how CAF's recent behaviour validates the 'confirmation' it has given FIFA? I have a million-dollar prize for an answer that makes any iota of sense!" Obayiuwana wonders. One very angry member, amongst a few others, of the CAF executive committee, whose identity is protected by the Nigerian colleague Obayiuwana for obvious reasons, expressed his dismay to him, over an act that has put CAF on a dangerous collision course with FIFA, as its director of Legal Affairs has reminded CAF, in no uncertain terms, that Aloulou and Diakite "cannot have any role during their bans". "It is very clear that the president of CAF, a body of which I am an executive member, has no regard for football's rules and regulations and the decisions of FIFA's judicial bodies. It is very unfortunate, as our credibility is being damaged," the CAF exco member told Obayiuwana, who to give CAF a fair chance to defend itself, put the following three questions to Suleiman Habuba, its Communications director/official spokesperson, to answer on his organisation's behalf: Is CAF aware that the aforementioned appointments of Aloulou and Diakite are in overt violation of a subsisting FIFA ban, preventing them from being involved in any football activity? Why were these appointments sanctioned by CAF's executive committee, which is subject to the judicial orders of FIFA, the sport's supreme body, regarding their bans? And, is CAF aware that a violation of FIFA's judicial orders could subject those found to have actively participated in flouting them, to further sanctions from FIFA? But it seems that Obayiuwana received no response from CAF as he wrote that he believes that "CAF's response is, probably, still winding its way through the email system." "There is no question that how FIFA deals with CAF's insubordination is a major test for Sepp Blatter, barely into the second month of his final four-year term as president. During my last one-on-one conversation with him, just weeks before the presidential poll of 1st June, the 75-year-old admitted his organisation needs 'better control of all the officials who are involved in football, not just in FIFA and its committees, but the players, coaches and everyone else...'" Obayiuwana says "And in a tacit confession that there is an attempt, by some of football chieftains, to erode the supremacy of FIFA as the sport's governing body, Blatter commented that 'giving more power to the confederations will certainly ensure the pyramidal structure of football will collapse. I am against that as a FIFA president,' he told me." In the end, Obayiuwana concludes his column saying that CAF's errant behaviour certainly provides Blatter with the ideal platform to publicly prove to its critics that there is a real desire from Zurich to clean the game up. "So, who is going to be the first to blink, as FIFA and CAF eyeball each other, whilst they flex their muscles? We shall see, won't we?" Obayiuwana asks. Following the publication of Obayiuwana's story, and as Al-Ahram Weekly was going to print, CAF has been compelled by FIFA to remove the names of Slim Aloulou and Amadou Diakite from ALL CAF committees, including the executive committee. FIFA, as a direct consequence of Obaiuwana's investigative report, issued a statement. "FIFA has asked CAF to ensure that, during the period of their suspension, the names of Slim Aloulou and Amadou Diakite are not published in any CAF committee list or, alternatively, are marked as 'banned from taking part in any football-related activity' on such lists during this period".
