Sydney (AFP) – Australian football is embroiled in a governance crisis and could face a take-over from FIFA after Football Federation Australia failed to pass a proposed reform of its congress on Thursday.
A key resolution at the FFA Annual General Meeting in Sydney to create a more democratic governance model was voted down, leaving the way for the world governing body to carry out its intention to take over the running of the game in Australia.
FFA Chairman Steven Lowy’s motion to reform the FFA congress fell short of the 75 percent voting threshold and he said the matter would now be referred to FIFA.
“We will now talk to FIFA about what steps can now be taken to resolve this issue so that we have a larger, more representative congress,” Lowy said.
“We have all been discussing and debating this for more than a year.
“We are disappointed that the members were unable to agree sufficiently on expansion of the congress for the measure to pass.”
FIFA had imposed a November 30 deadline to expand FFA membership or it said it would recommend the establishment of a normalisation committee to the FIFA Council.
The Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (AFPCA) — the lobby group formed by the A-League’s 10 clubs — said FFA had “lost the dressing room.”
“FIFA has been clear for the last 14 months about what is required,” AFPCA chairman Greg Griffin said in a statement.
“The FFA Board has continuously ignored those requirements and the ongoing direction from FIFA.
“What has motivated them to do so is clearly for them to answer, but they have lost focus on the ongoing needs of our game and have now ‘lost the dressing room’.”
