PORT OF SPAIN -CMC – Football’s world governing organization, Fifa, has extended the term of the normalization committee currently managing the sport in Trinidad & Tobago for another year.
Fifa general secretary Fatma Samoura wrote to the chair of the committee, Robert Hadad, on Wednesday to indicate the decision of the Bureau of the Fifa Council was predicated on “challenges that the TTFA (Trinidad & Tobago Football Association) continues to face.”
“To ensure that the mandate of the normalization committee is carried out and fulfilled in strict compliance with the Bureau’s decision, the Bureau decided on February 27 to extend the mandate of the normalization committee until March 31, 2024, at the latest,” Samoura wrote in the letter.
She noted that the normalization committee was appointed three years ago with a clear mandate to manage the daily affairs of the TTFA, establish a repayment plan for the debt-riddled organization, review and amend its statutes (and other regulations, where necessary), and ensure compliance with the laws and rules of Fifa.
Samoura said only half the work to stabilize the TTFA had been completed. Fifa felt it prudent to allow the normalization committee to continue its work to resolve all issues.
“The Bureau took note that, due to the high amount of debts accumulated by previous TTFA administrations and given the number of unsecured creditors, on November 8, 2021, the normalization committee decided to proceed based on the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Trinidad and Tobago and make a proposal to the various creditors to settle outstanding legitimate creditor balances (the ‘BIA process),” she wrote.
Samoura added this led to the first extension for the committee until March 31 this year and a decision to provide financial support to the TTFA.
“With the primary objective of allowing the normalization committee to fulfill one of its main tasks, and to prevent the TTFA’s complete liquidation as well as avoid significant long-term harm to the organization and football in general in T&T, Fifa decided to provide financial support to the TTFA to address its extreme situation,” she wrote.
“In this context, Fifa has now approved financial assistance to the TTFA subject to signing a strict financial agreement between Fifa and the TTFA. Furthermore, certain recent developments have delayed the BIA process. Consequently, considering the backlog, the normalization committee has not yet been able to begin revising the statutes, another of its main tasks.”
Samoura indicated that one of the central planks of the BIA process was clearing the TTFA’s debt, restructuring its governance, and strengthening its oversight.
“We consider that it is of the utmost importance that the normalization committee complete the BIA process,” she wrote, adding “the revision and amendment of the statutes, and organization and conduction of elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate” must also be completed.
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