In Mali, the tug-of-war between sports leaders continues. Mamoutou Touré, who is currently in pre-trial detention, was re-elected for a further 4-year term at the head of the Malian Football Federation (Femafoot). He even received congratulations from CAF and FIFA, as well as their president.
Clashes continue within Femafoot
In a FIFA press release copied to Sport New Africa, world soccer’s governing body states that it is discussing Mamoutou Touré’s situation with Femafoot and insists that it will consider him innocent until proven guilty.“FIFA has been closely monitoring the situation at the Malian Football Federation and is in close contact with Femafoot on this matter,” she declared. FIFA representatives were in Bamako. As observers, they attended the elective General Assembly held on August 29, 2023, during which Mamoutou Touré was re-elected President of Femafoot.
Furthermore, “FIFA calls on all parties concerned to ensure that the statutes, rules and regulations of FIFA and Femafoot, as well as applicable national legislation, are respected”. The document goes on to state that “to date, FIFA has not been informed of any judicial decision concerning the allegations made against the newly elected president of Femafoot, and also recognizes the principle of presumption of innocence”.
Two members of Femafoot to appeal to CAS
The Extraordinary General Meeting which elected the new president has been appealed by two members of Femafoot. These are Lafia Club de Bamako (LC BA) and the Timbuktu soccer league. In particular, LCBA is asking the Femafoot Election Appeals Commission to annul all the deliberations of the Extraordinary General Meeting of August 29, 2023, which led to the election of Touré’s list, for irregularities relating to the deadline for convening the meeting and the articles referred to in the notice of meeting.
The petitions were rejected on Monday September 4 by the Electoral Appeals Commission as ill-founded.”This decision is a big inflammation. On the plea used against the late convening of the elective general meeting, the commission did not provide any contradictory allegation of the announcement of the date of this meeting (45 days). Worse still, on the basis of articles 34 and 119.2 of the articles of association of the 2nd plea, the appeals committee lost the use of its pen (infra petita or omission to rule). In other words, this decision by the election appeals committee is iniquitous”, explain the LCBA club’s directors, before adding that the law will be upheld.
For its managers, it’s all over for Malian soccer. On the grounds that the texts simply serve to embellish the cupboards of the Malian Football Federation.And they’re going to take their case to CAS. It should be pointed out that the electoral process is also the subject of another appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, by members of the Salaha Baby list. Lastly, Femafoot had ten days in which to submit its brief and explain its position on the charges against it.
