If the crisis in Salvadoran soccer is not resolved, FIFA could exclude it from the international scene

The specter of a possible suspension by FIFA is hovering over El Salvadoran soccer, which could harm the celebration during the Central American and Caribbean Games in that country in 11 months.

Today the facilities of the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT) are being seized by the Attorney General’s Office and the local police in an investigation for money laundering and fraudulent administration.

At the same time, an ethics court of the governmental National Sports Institute (INDES) issued an administrative resolution ordering the dismissal of FESFUT directors and the creation of a Normalizing Commission.

The president of INDES, Yamil Bukele, has criticized the Salvadoran football authorities for allegedly refusing to harmonize their statutes with the general sports law.

As a result of this internal crisis, three successive days of matches in the main professional league in El Salvador have been suspended because the referees did not show up, as they did not have the endorsement to direct the matches.

An official statement from FIFA on this situation has not yet been confirmed, although FESFUT’s lawyers have said a FIFA statement has been received, supporting the management of the Salvadoran Football Federation’s board of directors.

“FIFA does not endorse government interference. FIFA is not going to support the decisions of INDES. FIFA has stated that no sporting event will be carried out if this situation is not fixed,” lawyer Ricardo Meneses told the press about the decision of said ethics court.

The Steering Committee of INDES sent a statement to FIFA after meeting “to comply with the measures decreed by the Court of Ethics, Discipline and Appeals for Sport, regarding the disciplinary suspension of the Executive Committee of the Salvadoran Football Federation and the appointment of a Normalizing Commission”.

“We do not intend to interfere with any federation,” Bukele has said. “The one that dictated the measure is an independent Court, which has issued instructions to the institution that I preside over,” the head of Indes, brother of the ruler Nayib Bukele, has tried to clarify on his social networks.

The government body has expressed that El Salvador does not want the same situation to be repeated like a few years ago with the Guatemalan Football Federation, when it was not recognized by FIFA and this Central American country was prevented from participating in any international competition for two years.

In its statement, INDES has invited FIFA to participate in its Normalizing Commission with the commitment to collaborate with the highest world body, report transparently about the process, in addition to ending “with the situation of illegal disobedience by adapting the FESFUT to the General Sports Law and provide maximum collaboration with the Attorney General’s Office”, all with the least possible interference.

FIFA does not allow the government of a country to intervene in the Football Federations, a situation for which, according to reports, it has already threatened El Salvador with harsh sanctions if it fails to resolve the internal problems between the government and the Salvadoran Federation soccer.

A possible disaffiliation of FESFUT would imply FIFA and CONCACAF would not endorse any tournament as official for both national teams and teams, which would include official games and friendly matches between Salvadoran clubs and their national teams.

In the midst of this investigation, with the suspension of matches affecting the three professional divisions, INDES launched a national under-21 soccer league with 14 teams, with authorization for three players without age limits and two foreigners per team.

“It’s not just football. All sports should aspire to become true sporting spectacles”, said Bukele in defense of his project.

Most of the suspensions by FIFA have been due to government interference or intervention in recent years, although the most recent, the case of Russia, has been for another reason: the war against Ukraine.