Suspension of the Football Federation of Belize provisionally lifted

Suspension of the Football Federation of Belize provisionally lifted


The FIFA Emergency Committee has decided today, 7 July 2011, to provisionally lift until 15 August the suspension of the Football Federation of Belize (FFB), which had been imposed on 17 June (see related articles for previous statement). This decision has been taken following some positive developments in the case, as reported by the FFB to FIFA.

The provisional measure will allow the return leg of the qualifying tie for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ between Belize and Montserrat, originally due to be played on 19 June 2011, to finally take place. This return match will now be played before 17 July 2011 outside of Belize (in order to avoid the risk of the Belizean authorities not providing security guarantees, as was the case for the game originally scheduled for 19 June 2011). The first game, played in Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago) on 15 June, was won 5-2 by Belize.

The Emergency Committee has decided that, should the FFB not be able to definitively settle the issues at stake with the authorities by 15 August 2011, then the suspension of the FFB would be automatically reinstated.