UEFA & FIFA suspend Albania

TIRANA, March 19 – UEFA published the following statement with regard to the situation with the Football Association of Albania (FSF), based on the decision taken by the FIFA Executive Committee on 14 March to suspend the association under the terms of Article 14 of the FIFA Statutes. At the recommendation of the FIFA Associations Committee, FIFA decided to suspend the FA of Albania due to significant political interference. Consequently, the matter will be reported to UEFA’s Executive Committee at its forthcoming meeting in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on 28 March 2008.
In order to ensure compliance with the FIFA decision, the following measures have been taken:
The FSF may play neither friendly nor official competition matches.
In particular, the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 1 match against Greece, scheduled for 26 March, is being postponed until further notice.
No Albanian representative may participate at any UEFA committee meetings, courses, workshops, events, etc, and no Albanian referee, delegate, venue director or other official may be involved at any UEFA match or event. UEFA and FIFA hope to solve this conflict during the next two months, depending on the collaboration of the Albanian government. On March 14, the FIFA Executive Committee chaired by President Joseph S. Blatter, and at the recommendation of the FIFA Associations Committee, decided to suspend the Football Association of Albania due to heavy political interference.