Football: Fifa Lifts Ban on Mali

Fifa has announced that they have lifted the suspension on the Mali Football Federation (Femafoot) ahead of the upcoming Afcon U17 in Gabon from May 14-28.

The timely announcement means that the Junior Eagles will be in position to defend their Afcon U17 title after Ethiopia was scheduled replace them and the latter were already into a week’s training session in Addis Ababa.

A letter signed by Fifa Secretary General Fatma Samoura stated that, “The Bureau of the Council was informed of the new decision of the Minister of Sports (28 April 2107), which annuls Decisions (8 March 2017) that they had dissolved the Femafoot Executive Committee and set up a provisional committee to manage the day-to-day affairs of the federation and to facilitate the election of a new executive committee within twelve months. Therefore, the Executive Committee of Femafoot, chaired by you, has been resettled.” 

“In these circumstances, the Bureau of the Council decided to lift the suspension of Femafoot with immediate effect. Consequently, Femafoot again benefits from all of its membership rights in accordance with Art. 13 of the Fifa Statutes.”



“As a result, representative teams and FBF clubs can again participate in international competitions, it also means that Femafoot, its members and officials can once again benefit from the development programs, courses and training provided by Fifa and The Confederation of African Football (Caf). In addition, Fifa member associations may re-establish sports relations with Femafoot and/or its teams.”

As much as the Mali U17 side will be the immediate beneficiary, the suspension already affected Malian sides Djoliba and Onze Createurs that were competing in the Caf Confederation Cup playoff round.

Djoliba had established a 2-0 first leg win over Egyptian outfit El Masry in the Malian capital while Onze Createurs had defeated Rayon Sports of Rwanda 1-0 in Bamako but the Fifa suspension saw to it that the two opponents proceeded to the playoff round.

Mali will be looking to retain their title and qualify for the Fifa U17 World Cup in India from October 6-28 but will have to overcome Angola, Niger and Tanzania in Libreville to finish in the top two of Group A to achieve this.

Hosts Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea will be competing for the two slots in Group A in Port Gentil.