Araneta officially recognized by FIFA/AFC

This appears in the Wednesday January 5 2011 edition of the Business Mirror. Click on image to enlarge.

Araneta officially recognized by FIFA/AFC

by rick olivares

The Asian Football Confederation has finally recognized Philippine Football Federation interim President Mariano V. Araneta after FIFA/AFC lawyers submitted their findings to their respective organizations after a fact-finding mission last December 29-30, 2010. Fabienne Moser-Frei, FIFA Head of Corporate Counsel, and My Dung Nguyen, AFC Legal Director conducted interviews with PFF stakeholders while reviewing the documents and the video taken of the proceedings.

In an fax letter dated January 3 by FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke to his PFF counterpart Ramon Manuel, the former wrote: “After having thoroughly analyzed the report of the said FIFA/AFC delegation, we kindly inform you that the Chairman of the Association Committee is still of the legal opinion that the removal of Mr. Jose Martinez and the election of Mr. Araneta was in line with the relevant PFF Statutes as outlined in the FFA letter dated 20 December 2010.

Added Valcke: “Hls (Martinez) view ls mainly based on the facts that alI stakeholders agreed on the sarne set of statutes adopted by the PFF Congress in 2007 as well as on the same national laws app cable to the present case and that the vldeo which was submitted by the PFF administration to FIFA and AFC containing the facts happened during the second part of the PFF Congress was not contested.

“Moreover, the Chairman of the Association Committee took into consideration that the decisions taken by the PFF Congress were neither challenged at the arbitration court nor at the competent local court by any PFF member or by Mr. Martinez within due time.”

With the stamp of approval, Araneta and his party were immediately granted a visa and accreditation to the 24^th AFC Congress in Qatar.

Accompanying Araneta are Manuel and Philippine Olympic Committee Chairman Monico Puentevella who all left at midnight of January 4 via Emirates Airlines bound for Doha to attend the one-day congress on January 6. Said Araneta in a conversation with BUSINESSMIRROR before he boarded his flight for Doha: “We received our accreditation only today (January 3) but before 2010 ended, we received an invitation by no less than AFC President Mohammad Bin-Hammam to arrive earlier for a series of talks before the congress. That to us is a good sign. But this is just the start. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

In the a related development, the AFC Executive Committee unanimously approved last December 31 a proposal by Hammam that would give all 46-member countries an opportunity to be a part of the AFC Cup, the continent’s flagship football tournament.

“Next year in the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, we can expect to see the kind of top-quality action we see at top-level world competitions,” said Hammam. “This is a great opportunity for us to invite all our Member Associations to be part of this great celebration. I don’t think this has happened in the past, at least since I have been President.”

The AFC Congress meets every two years to deliberate and decide on issues confronting concerning the AFC  Statutes, the methods and procedures of their implementation and application, the approval of the annual report, the acceptance of new national associations, and holding of elections.  For the elections, at stake is the post of AFC President and three slots on FIFA’s Executive Committee.