Police seize control of Iraqi football offices

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BAGHDAD, Nov 18, 2009 (AFP) - Police on Wednesday seized control of the offices of Iraq's football association after its governing board was dissolved on charges of links to executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

"We are inside the headquarters to protect the premises and the fittings," Colonel Abdel Amir Rissan, who heads a police team in charge of security for official buildings, told AFP.

"We are here also to prevent the offices from being attacked or robbed ... and our presence aims to protect employees until the provisional administration takes over," he said.

The association's deputy secretary general, Tareq Ahmad, standing outside the offices, said a decision had been taken to evacuate the premises because staff could not work with the police presence.

On Tuesday, FIFA gave the authorities in Baghdad a 72-hour ultimatum to reinstate the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) or risk suspension from international football.

World football's governing body said it had learnt that "the Iraqi Olympic Committee announced the dissolution of the governing board of IFA.

"If the decision to dissolute IFA is not cancelled within 72 hours (starting 16 November), and if the IFA headquarters are not returned to the IFA within the same deadline, FIFA will have no choice but to refer the issue to the FIFA Emergency Committee in order to decide on a possible IFA suspension," it added.

FIFA's threat, however, was met with disdain in Baghdad. "The Iraqi Olympic Committee will not change its decision, regardless of the consequences," said member Samir Mussawi.

Football is highly popular in Iraq and its importance was boosted by the national side's victory in the 2007 Asian Nations Cup.

FIFA has expressed growing concern about possible political interference in the sport in Iraq. In September, it gave the IFA until April 30, 2010 to elect a new board.

Iraq was briefly suspended from international football in May 2008, after the government dissolved the national Olympic Committee. It was reinstated only after the government said the IFA had not been affected.

The International Olympic Committee had also suspended Iraq's Olympic Committee from international competition, but that row was resolved shortly before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Since the overthrow of Saddam in the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq's new mainly Shiite leadership has taken control of the Olympic Committee and all the other sports federations, except the IFA.

Both the IFA and Olympic Committee were headed by Saddam's elder son, Uday, during the previous regime.