FIFA SUSPENDS ALBANIA

The FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter, upheld the decision taken in Tokyo in December 2007 regarding football at high altitude. It also applauded the improvement in relations with the major clubs following meetings earlier this year and welcomed FIFA's positive financial results for 2007. Taking stock after seven hours of discussions, the FIFA President said: "Today's meeting was a reflection of the wide range of issues which need to be dealt with carefully and at regular intervals to protect and to promote football.

I am pleased to see that the decisions taken today will allow us to address these matters adequately." At the recommendation of the FIFA Associations Committee, it was decided to suspend the Football Association of Albania due to heavy political interference, while the situation regarding the Spanish football association (RFEF) will be closely monitored following a ministerial decree that aims to regulate the election for the association's leadership, effectively shortening the mandate of the current leadership by eight months.

The executive supported the RFEF in its decision to adhere to its own statutes and regulations as well as those of FIFA. The situation in Turkey will continue to be supervised, as will the cases of Kuwait and Dominica, while in the case of Madagascar, it was decided that the association would be suspended automatically if the government decree to dissolve the association was not cancelled within three days. The Ethiopian government will also be asked to allow the Ethiopian Football Federation to access its headquarters again. Moreover, the FIFA administration was requested to monitor very closely developments with respect to the diplomatic situation of Kosovo.