SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP)—The El Salvador government has responded to a FIFA warning that the country’s World Cup refereeing team will be removed from the tournament if a dispute with football officials is not resolved.
The El Salvador National Assembly agreed Thursday to give a two-month recognition to the regulatory commission of El Salvador’s football federation, on the understanding the federation will use the time to name a new commission.
Legislator Rafael Paz of the Grand National Alliance said “they have two months to call a general assembly and name new authorities to the commission.”
El Salvador was banned Tuesday by FIFA after its government refused to recognize the authorities set up to run football affairs. Football rules prohibit politicians from interfering in the election of officials to run the sport.
FIFA said Wednesday that country’s three of referees—Joel Antonio Aguilar and assistants William Torres and Francisco Zumba—would be barred under the terms of the country’s suspension from world football because of political interference.
But Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes said Thursday the government “will work hand in hand with the Salvadoran football federation so that we can reverse this sanction and protect the nation’s football.”
Earlier, FIFA had given the government a June 8 deadline to back down.
“If the Salvadoran authorities do not revise their position … the FIFA executive committee will be obliged to propose to the FIFA Congress that (the El Salvador federation) be suspended,” football’s world governing body said in a statement.
The FIFA Congress of 208 nations meets in Johannesburg the next day and can ban El Salvador for one year.
“If the congress upholds this proposal, it will not be possible to lift the suspension until the next FIFA Congress in June 2011,” FIFA warned.
The World Cup opens on June 11. It was not clear if Thursday’s statements were sufficient to get the ban lifted.
El Salvador did not qualify but is one of only 28 nations which have supplied the 30 referees chosen to take charge of matches. The 30-year-old Aguilar is the youngest referee in the elite pool, and the 27-year-old Zumba is the youngest official among the 30 refs and 60 assistants.
Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:16 pm by tjp
Subject: FIFA warns El Salvador on government interference