FIFA Lifts Suspension On Iraqi, May Expel Brunei

The FIFA Executive Committee has decided to lift the four-month-old suspension it imposed on the Iraqi Football Association (IFA).

The decision by the world football governing body at its two-day meeting in Zurich followed the decision of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) to withdraw its dissolution of the association.

According to a statement issued at the end of the meeting on Friday in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA notes that its decision become necessary after IFA has also had its full authority restored.

The Iraqi FA was suspended in November 2009 due to what FIFA had termed “governmental interference’’.

The FIFA statement said the football body’s executive also agreed to submit to the next FIFA Congress a request for the expulsion of The Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA).

“This will be necessary if the BAFA has not been reinstated by then.

“FIFA has noted that no major progress had been made since the BAFA was suspended in September 2009,’’ the statement made available to our source in Abuja on Saturday said.

At the meeting, reports were submitted on the preparations for the 60th FIFA Congress and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.

“The reports indicate that all preparations are well on track,’’ the statement said.

It added that the executive committee further decided to approve that single yellow cards will be deleted only once during the competition in South Africa, after the quarter-final stage.