Soccer News of Monday, 2 May 2011

Source: BBC Sport

Fifa will not rule on Ghana FA election saga

Fifa says it does not have the authority to intervene in the Ghana Football Association (GFA) presidential election saga.

Two GFA presidential aspirants petitioned the world governing body over the decision to disqualify them from the race.

The GFA's elections committee disqualified Neil Armstrong Mortagbe and Vincent Sowah Odotei last month citing irregularities in their nomination papers. The two men wanted Fifa to intervene to rule over the decision to exclude them from the election.

But Fifa says the two aggrieved parties must resolve the matter within the local federation.

"This is a purely internal matter of the GFA and it is up to the GFA to answer the petitioners," Fifa deputy general secretary Markus Kattner said. Despite its decision not to intervene in the matter, the world governing demanded a report on the impasse.

"We would like to kindly ask you to provide us with a report on these issues," Kattner added in a letter to the GFA.

The two aspirants must now resort to the GFA's dispute resolution chamber to address their concerns.

The decision to ban the two candidates left the incumbent Kwesi Nyantakyi as the only candidate to stand last month's election.

But the election was postponed to allow the GFA's dispute resolution chamber to resolve the stand-off before a new date is set for election. Nyantakyi, who is credited for the country's first two World Cup appearances, is seeking a second term in office.

He is also the member of the Caf Executive Committee and the interim president of the West Africa Football Union (Wafu).