GhanaFA

Breather from litigation

16 years ago
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All sporting disputes are to be resolved within the football family after FIFA stepped up its efforts to keep cases out of civil courts.

The annual Congress of the World soccer governing body on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to tighten the relevant statutes.

FIFA's member associations approved by 198 votes to three new proposals under which the associations will undertake to punish any "leagues, members of leagues, clubs, members of clubs, players, officials and other association officials" who take their disputes to ordinary courts of law.

Outgoing FIFA vice-president David Will acknowledged that the organisation's present statutes already prohibited such actions, but said that the amended text would "toughen up and set down the regulations more precisely."

The tightening of the statutes will apply to all member associations including the Ghana Football Association.

Ghana's FA has recently been dogged with court battles over related football matters as individual's affiliated with clubs turn to the law courts to resolve disputes.

Four other amendments recommended by FIFA's executive committee were also comfortably approved by Congress.