Uganda could miss out on the 2014 tournament after the FIFA warning. |
FUFA chief executive Edgar Watson said on Tuesday that the world body warned Uganda's government in a letter, with copies also sent to FUFA and the Confederation of African Football.
FIFA's warning to Uganda is the latest in a catalog of problems for African football this year, where top federations have been suspended or sanctioned and match-fixing again has made headlines.
Cameroon's football federation was suspended on July 4 for government interference following a contested election last month. Long-standing FECAFOOT President Mohammed Iya was re-elected in a landslide victory on June 19 despite being under arrest for alleged financial misconduct relating to the loss of about $19 million while he was in charge of a company.
Ethiopia, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sudan have all been forced by FIFA to forfeit games in World Cup qualifying for fielding ineligible players, throwing parts of what's probably Africa's most important competition into disarray.
Ethiopia had already reached the final 10-team playoffs for Brazil before it was stripped of a win over Botswana because Minyahile Beyene was suspended and should not have played. Ethiopia's federation said officials 'forgot' about his suspension. Ethiopia is now not guaranteed to progress and South Africa's hopes are alive again.
Togo and Equatorial Guinea also have recently lost points, with those punishments by FIFA having important repercussions on two other qualifying groups.
Four amateur Nigerian clubs were banned for 10 years and all players, team officials and match officials involved banned for life for what the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) called 'scandalous' fixed scorelines in recent lower-league playoffs: Plateau United Feeders beat Akurba FC 79-0 and Police Machine beat Babayaro 67-0 after the teams worked out their goal tallies would be decisive in deciding who got promoted to Nigeria's professional league.
The NFF said that one player scored 11 goals in one game, while at one point four goals were scored in a minute. Another player scored three own-goals.
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