By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – Just days after Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri sacked the entire Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Board in the wake of the Port Said riots in which 74 people died, FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) is taking immediate steps to reinstate the relevant officials.
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 a country’s footballing affairs – strictly forbidden under FIFA rules.
Blatter, who had initially described the rioting as a black day for football and sent his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, was clearly in no mood for charity when it came to Government interference in football.
“It was 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 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 violence that followed Al-Masry beating Cairo giants Al-Ahli 3-1 was Egypt’s worst football disaster and the deadliest single incident since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak early last year.
Over 1,000 others were injured in the terrible bloodbath after the game between the two fierce rivals and demonstrators have since staged anti-Government protests blaming the country’s military authorities.
But Blatter said Egypt’s footballing authorities should not be made scapegoats by the current regime.
“FIFA’s number one objective is to protect football, protect the association and naturally ensure these situations are not repeated,” he insisted.
“But we also need a police [force] or army because in football we don’t have the power to intervene directly.”
Ironically, the CONMEBOL congress attended by Blatter decided to modify its own statutes to reduce the intervention of Governments in football affairs.
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