(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Football in Oman is set to enter a period of uncertainty with the deadline for the Ministry of Sports Affairs to enforce a court verdict to dissolve the board of the Oman Football Association (OFA) ending on August 31.Â
The latest indication from sources in OFA is that the 12-member board may resign en masse, possibly as soon as Monday.
The OFA board, the sources believe, would do so to avoid a direct confrontation with the sports ministry after the Administrative Justice Court ruled in June that the association's elections held last year as invalid.
The sources added that Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy, the OFA chairman, may hold a press conference on Monday to announce the decision. Busaidy and the other board members, meanwhile, met H E Sheikh Saad al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs, late on Sunday to discuss the issue. The meeting was in progress at the time of going to press.
Once the OFA board resigns, an interim committee headed by Sheikh Hazzaa al Saadi, the OFA chief executive who is not a board member, is likely to take charge of the country's football affairs.
By resigning on its own, rather than be disbanded by the ministry, the board is apparently hoping to avoid a backlash from FIFA, the world governing body, which had warned earlier that Oman faces stringent action, including suspension, if the court verdict is implemented.
FIFA statutes specify that member associations have to manage their affairs independently and without influence of any 'third parties', which in this case refers to the Administrative Justice Court.
The court's ruling came on petitions filed by three clubs â€" Oman, Muscat and Seeb - and a former sports administrator, challenging the elections held in the presence of an observer from FIFA and officials from the sports ministry. The petitioners claimed that the election process was flawed, with their objections focusing on the eligibility of some of the candidates who were ultimately elected.
On Sunday, the OFA excluded the three clubs from its domestic leagues after suspending them from the association.
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