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Oceania Football Confederation suspends Samoa

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-06 14:28

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Samoa was suspended by the Oceania Football Confederation on Monday over what it described as serious finance-related violations of its obligations as a member.

"The OFC executive committee took this decision during their meeting in Auckland after analyzing the critical financial situation of the SFSF (Samoan federation) and also their failure to comply with their obligation as a member of OFC by disregarding FIFA's decision to implement (a) normalization committee," the confederation said in a statement.

"The executive committee considered that the failure to respect the decision of FIFA and OFC was a serious violation of OFC statutes and the only alternative was suspension."

The suspension will need to be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of the OFC's member states when the confederation holds its next congress. No date for that meeting has yet been set.

OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas said his organization had imposed the suspension as a last resort after failing to resolve concerns about Samoa's financial position. The Samoa federation is US$600,000 in debt despite receiving almost US$5 million from FIFA over the past five years.

The OFC had sought to have Samoa's current administration removed and replaced by a new committee, a decision endorsed by FIFA, but the Samoan federation had resisted that move.

"Over the past few years there has been mismanagement in terms of how they have spent their money. They've run up a lot of debts," Nicholas told New Zealand's Radio Sport.

"It's important, as FIFA's regional body, that we can make sure their money is properly accounted for."

Nicholas stressed that no funds had been misappropriated, but that the management of Samoan football was of concern.