Senior representatives from the International Football Federation (FIFA) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are expected to visit Kabul on Friday to evaluate a number of issues, Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) spokesman Syed Ali Kazemi said Thursday.
According to him, the delegation will evaluate reports of conflict among members and third party interference in the Football Federation of Afghanistan, Kazemi said.
Recently, due to allegations of third party interference in Afghanistan Football activities, FIFA authorized a delegation to visit Kabul to assess the claims.
In February this year, FIFA called on the Afghanistan Football Federation to postpone its April election, saying the “the current environment is not conducive to a peaceful, transparent and orderly electoral process”.
In a letter signed by FIFA’s Secretary General Fatma Samoura, earlier this year, the organization said it could not send observers to oversee the AFF election, that had been scheduled for April 5.
Included in the letter, was a reminder to the AFF to manage its affairs “independently and without influence from third parties.”
The letter was sent to the AFF a day after four members of the Afghan parliament showed up at the federation accompanying one of the two contenders in the AFF elections, Haroon Popal.
The delegation, led by MP Obaidullah Barakzai, the head of complaints commission in the Lower House of the parliament, said “it was their right to oversee the process”.
The MPs apparently argued that their oversight was more important than FIFA’s.
AFF confirmed that the April 5 elections were postponed indefinitely until the international association completed its assessment of the situation, Sayed Ali Reza Aqazada, the AFF secretary general, said at a press conference at the time.
Incumbent AFF president Keramuddin Kiram and businessman Haroon Popal were running for AFF presidency.
This meanwhile comes a day after the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) was banned by FIFA with immediate effect due to "undue third-party interference".