Wednesday, June 1, 2011

FIFA Lifts Bosnia football suspension set to face Romania

 
FIFA Lifts Bosnia football suspension
 
FIFA and UEFA have lifted their suspension against Bosnia's team after the country's football federation adopted new statutes.

Football's world governing body, FIFA, repealed the suspension on Monday in Zurich after Bosnia's football federation, NSBiH, adopted new statutes in line with FIFA's requirements on May 26.

FIFA announced Bosnia's suspension from international play on April 1 after NSBiH refused to give up its three-man presidency - made up of one Croat, one Serb and one Bosniak.

The governing association told Bosnia that it must replace the tripartite presidency with a single president.

The lifting of the ban will allow Bosnia to resume its 2012 European Championship programme. The national team will face off against Romania away on Friday, in its first match since the suspension took effect, and will play against Albania at home on June 7.

For years FIFA and UEFA had accepted Bosnia's ethnically based presidency, a make-up the mirrors the country's institutional and political structure.

Last year, however, football officials warned Bosnia’s Football Federation, NSBiH, to replace its three-member ethnic presidency with one president, but the NSBiH voted against the required change.

Serb representatives in NSBiH had opposed the new statute proposed by FIFA and UEFA, claiming that it would make them lose their autonomy.

Bosnia's national football team has never appeared at a major tournament, but has made a promising start in qualifying for Euro 2012.

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