THE WORLD’S governing body for football – FIFA – said the members of the normalisation committee it appointed to the TT Football Association (TTFA) were chosen through a “series of interviews.”
On March 17, FIFA announced the committee was appointed owing to the TTFA’s “low financial management methods” and “a massive debt.”
T&T is not the first to have such an appointment, with countries like Ghana, Argentina, Guyana, Greece, Uruguay, Egypt and many others having experienced this type of intervention by FIFA.
The decision follows article 8:2 of FIFA’s statutes which states, “Executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period of time.”
But the article does not indicate how these committee members are chosen.
At the head is businessman Robert Hadad as chairman, with Judy Daniel as his deputy and Nigel Romano as a member.
In response to an e-mail, FIFA spokesperson Thayssa Plum told Newsday, “The members of a Normalisation Committee are chosen through a series of interviews with different candidates. In this case, the interviews were conducted by delegates from FIFA and Concacaf. During that process, it is ensured that the members that compose the Normalisation Committee have different profiles, perform their duties with neutrality and gather the necessary competencies to temporarily lead the federation in question.
“In line with the FIFA governance regulations, all members of the normalisation committee are subject to an eligibility check, and none of its members are eligible for any of the open positions in the elections under any circumstances.”
But the article also does not indicate or define what “exceptional circumstances” are.
Many of the other countries who have had such intervention were revealed to have corruption within their football associations. And in T&T’s case – financial woes.
Asked for clarity on this, Plum referred Newsday to FIFA’s initial press release on the appointment of the committee. She pointed out the quote, “The decision follows the recent FIFA/Concacaf fact-finding mission to T&T to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA.
“The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.”
FIFA had previously indicated the committee will consist of five members in total, and that it would “appoint two more members in the coming days.” No further announcements have since been made.