Tunisia risks being excluded from the upcoming Qatar 2022 World Cup in November if the North African country’s government interferes in footballing matters, according to the sport’s global governing body FIFA.
FIFA’s warning comes after Tunisia’s Youth and Sports Minister, Kamel Deguiche, repeated comments about possibly “dissolving federal bureaux”.
FIFA has taken Deguiche’s remarks as an attempt to meddle in how the Tunisiain Football Federation (FTF) is run. It has asked the body to give information about any attempts to interfere in its affairs by the Tunisian government, while threatening to dissolve the FTF’s office.
The FTF has also been reminded by FIFA that member associations are “legally obligated to conduct their affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties”.
“Any failure to comply with these obligations may result in the imposition of penalties under the FIFA laws, including suspension of the relevant association,” read a letter from Kenny Jean-Marie, who is FIFA’s director of member associations, to the FTF’s general secretary Wajdi Aouadi.
Any ban on the FTF from FIFA would mean that no Tunisian clubs or national teams are allowed to play in international competitions such as the Africa Cup of Nations or the World Cup.
FIFA has demanded that the FTF reply to its request no later than Friday. The organization has faced other serious accusations in recent times, with club side Chebba claiming that FTF president Wadie Jary knowingly misled the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in April 2021 before the Swiss-based authority ruled in Chebba’s favor.
Chebba were suspended for one year and relegated to the country’s fourth division after “failing to register on time” for the 2020-2021 season”. Before the ruling was overturned, the controversy became a national topic of conversation in Tunisian society.
Known as the Carthage Eagles, Tunisia have never been past the group stage in five appearances at the World Cup and face the champions France, Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark, and Australia in Group D. They begin their Qatar 2022 campaign against Denmark on November 22.
