FIFA lift ban on Antigua/Barbuda

ST JOHN’S: Football’s world governing body have lifted their suspension on the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association on the basis of a report submitted by an official delegation that visited the country in August.

FIFA announced at the conclusion of a meeting of the Executive Committee in Doha, Qatar, on Friday that they lifted the suspension on the country’s national association they had imposed in May. Clarence Crump, the chairman of the normalisation committee formed to re-organise the national association after the suspension, has not been officially informed, but he is not entirely surprised at the news. “When the normalisation committee was instituted, we wrote to FIFA accepting the conditions laid down for our operation, and they mentioned that once we accepted the normalisation committee format, the suspension would have been lifted,” Crump told CMC Sports. “We still have to complete some restructuring. We will have to revise our statutes, so that we can have an election of officers in February next year.We will have to bring our statues in line with FIFA’s. “This will help to bring us back fully into the fold of FIFA and this is the best thing that we can do. I am anxious to see this happen because it is only our young people that will be suffering.” The FIFA Emergency Committee had imposed the suspension on the AFA on the grounds that the developments in football in Antigua and Barbuda and the chaotic situation in the administration of the game were preventing the national association from assuming its duties correctly.