(ATR) Hours after the Kuwaiti government accused FIFA of "trying to manipulate football", world football's congress in Zurich rejected calls for a Friday decision on the country's suspension.
The government issued a statement late Thursday saying that the FIFA ExCo's recommendation this week to postpone a vote on lifting the ban imposed in October 2015 showed that nothing much has changed with FIFA.
Two interventions at the congress on Friday triggered a vote on whether Kuwait and Indonesia's suspensions should be confirmed or lifted. But 165 delegates rebuffed the proposal.
Kuwaiti FIFA ExCo member Sheikh Ahmad, who has been strongly criticized by his own country's government over the past few months, was out of the hall as FIFA Congress decided against discussing Kuwait's ban.
On Thursday, the president of the sport commission in the Kuwait Parliament, Abdullah Al Mayouf, said in a statement: "The recommendations of the ExCo to delay voting on the decision of the Kuwait suspension until the Congress in May is further proof that there are people at the top trying to manipulate football and clearly outlines the continuous mismanagement within FIFA."
The Gulf state said the sanctions are "an attack on Kuwait football" and have "negatively impacted sport in Kuwait", including the national team’s performances in World Cup qualifying.
The Kuwait statement, which came a day after the FIFA ExCo's recommendation, also claimed that the delay was in contradiction of the federation's own statutes, which stipulate that a vote on Kuwait’s suspension must take place.
Kuwait was suspended by FIFA last October for government interference in its football association. At the heart of the matter was a change in Kuwait’s sports laws. The IOC suspended the Kuwait Olympic committee less than two weeks later when the new sports laws went into effect.
Acting FIFA secretary general Markus Kattner told the FIFA Extraordinary Congress Friday that the ordinary congress convening in Mexico City on May 12-13 will make a decision on the bans of Kuwait and Indonesia.
Written by Gerard Farek and Mark Bisson
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