On 21 September 2018, the FIF Disciplinary Commission issued a decision against ASEC Mimosas and its President. I was then subject to a 12-month stadium ban from 24 September 2018. As stipulated in the texts governing the FIF, I appealed this decision within the prescribed time frame with the filing of an appeal brief dated 3 October 2018. While my suspension will come to an end on Tuesday 24 September 2019, the FIF Appeals Board has still not decided on my appeal. The lack of a decision by the Appeals Commission is due to its illegal composition (as is that of the Disciplinary Commission) which I had denounced in this appeal brief. The politics of falsehood and ostrich rather than the politics of truth!
What credit can be given to individuals capable of ostensibly flouting the texts that govern the institution for which they have a temporary responsibility to lead? I confirm that we are dealing with an Executive Committee that lies every day to all the players in football and whose misdeeds must be denounced every day. This is not acceptable and I pledge to you never to give up this fight of truth, for the development of Ivorian football, by agreeing to appear as a grumpy old man never happy. As my suspension comes to an end, I am waiting for a further summons from the Disciplinary Commission for writing that the current Executive Committee of the FIF and its two main officials are LIARS.
Our editorial last week had its intended effect, that of making those whose incompetence, lies and malfeasance we denounce react. Thus, a signed communiqué from the Executive Director of the FIF was published on Friday, September 13, 2019 on the official website of the FIF, followed by an interview with the President of the Professional League the following Tuesday. What can we learn from the answers they provide to the problems we have raised?
1) Let us first remember that on the question of the calendar of Ligue 1, they both remained silent, sign
that we have hit the nail on the head. In other words, the lack of anticipation and coordination is garish,
resulting in an unscheduled interruption of 7 weeks after only 3 days of contested
again, if necessary, the incompetence of these individuals to organize and plan a competition.
2) On the issue of licensing, we feel the willingness of the FIF to hang on to demonstrate 2 things:
The suspension of the system is not its fact, is not related to a lack of payment but rather to
a technical failure of the system,
This suspension is not very serious because it did not prevent the competitions from taking place,
On these two points, let us base ourselves on the facts and actions taken to verify whether the FIF’s statements are correct:
On the FIF’s responsibility for suspending the system:
As early as 2011, FIFA made it available free of charge to the African Federations, as part of the
‘Winning africa with Africa’ programme, the licensing system
“LicensePlus” through the Tunisian structure NARSIL Technology.
On 6 and 7 September 2016, at a FIFA seminar in Yaounde (Cameroon) attended
FIF Deputy Executive Director, FIFA informed the African Federations that it was stopping
at the end of 2016 its service contract with NARSIL Technology because the system
was deemed unreliable and underperforming by all actors.
It also informed them on this occasion of the free provision of a new system
FIFA Connect, which can be used in the 2017-18 season.
iii. The service contract between FIFA and NARSIL Technology has effectively ended
December 31, 2016 (see FIFA’s letter to the Federations opposite on page 3 of
magazine).
A program to transition from the LicensePlus system to FIFA Connect is offered to
Federations with training seminars and migration solutions before the start of the
2017-2018 season.
As of the 2017-2018 season, the African Federations have the choice between:
Migrate to the free licensing system developed by FIFA,
Continue with the old licensing system (LicensePlus), paid for and
which, in the opinion of all, including the General Secretaries of the clubs, was failing and
underperforming.
What have the African Federations done?
– Most African Federations have logically chosen the free and efficient FIFA system
Connect
– The FIF has made the choice, despite common sense, to keep the paid and underperforming system, LicensePlus,
according to the FIF press release issued on September 13, 2019:
o “In 2018, as a result of this decision to breach FIFA’s contract, it was up to each of these
federations, to set up a licensing system.
Because the FIFA decision came during the sports season on the one hand,
and on the other hand, that data migration on another registration platform
complex or even long-term, the FIF chose to continue temporarily with NARSIL
Techlogy so as not to disturb the clubs in their registration of licenses.”
-You will readily agree that these argments communicated more than 2 years after the decision, under pressure
our revelations cannot be accepted, in that:
o The FIF deliberately and maliciously avoids mentioning that a free system developed
FIFA is available,
o FIFA’s decision came during the 2016-2017 season for an application
at the start of the 2017-18 season, which left plenty of time for its implementation,
o Many African federations have installed it since the 2017-2018 season without
cause no problem set for the clubs,
o If the choice to continue with NARSIL Technology was temporary, why not migrate
FIFA Connect in 2018-2019 or 2019-2020?
If the reason for the non-functioning licensing system license licences should be technical, the fIF’s liability would be great because it would have originated, again, a bad choice, thinking that it would be right alone against all other Federations by not making the right choice of FIFA Connect.
Regarding financial matters, the Executive Director of the FIF gave us some great information about relations with the Tunisian provider:
– The bill for the 2018-2019 season would have been paid on March 22, 2019, more than 6 months after the start
season and performance.
Why pay so late if you don’t have a financial problem, as the President of the League says?
– The bill for the 2019-2020 season would have been paid on August 8, 2019 when the system was already blocked.
In an exchange of emails, the President of the League tells us the day after this
(August 09, 2019) that he has just “spoken to his services. Arrangements are made for a resumption
normally this afternoon, “certainly thinking that the settlement of the sum of US$6,000
would allow the desired release. Still not working on August 10, 2019, he writes to us on
August 12, 2019:
“We tried to reach them by phone but no action was made. Definitely out of the way because of the party
Tabaski. We are re-launching them tomorrow and hope to resolve this issue as soon as possible. All our regrets.”
How to understand non-unlocking, if the FIF accounts are up to date? Payment of August 8, 2019
did he pay for all outstanding payments to NARSIL Technology?
– The highlight of the show comes from reading the rest of the press release: “The Executive Director of the FIF, in
mission to Tunisia from 28 to 31 August 2019 in TUNIS, tried in vain, with senior
Tunisian Football Federation, to meet with the heads of NARSIL Technology.”
Thus, the head of the Administration of the Ivorian Football Federation, despite the support of the “high
Tunisian Football Federation” failed to secure an appointment with the Tunisian Football Federation
managers of one of its providers.
Who can believe that a provider, with whom the FIF Executive Committee has been in contact since 2012,
refuse to meet a partner if the relationship between them is healthy? Unimaginable, as it comes
Côte d’Ivoire’s federal football body !!!
Let’s add, however, that the Executive Director and the President of the League are still lying (and are for
“Friday night (13 September) the licences have been released” and that the system
Work. It is FALSE to declare that ASEC Mimosas has taken possession of the licences of its
players to date. As for the 9 licenses that would have been printed, were they with the LicensePlus software
NARSIL Technology?
Regarding the severity of the system suspension:
Playing with “flying leaves,” while ridiculous these days, is not a big deal in itself.
What is serious is that you do not have access to the database, which allows you to follow the path of a
to verify that a qualified player has not already qualified with another identity … It’s very serious,
because there is a great risk that big problems will arise when the recording in the software is
possible. What will we do when we discover that a player who has played a Ligue 1 game this season
had been qualified in the past and was in the database with a different identity?
Will the team that has an irregularly qualified player have the game lost?
And if it concerns several teams, who will be held accountable? Clubs, as always, or FIF
will she ever bear the consequences of her inconsequential actions?
Let’s stop there! The cup is full, overflows and we risk flooding! However, we advise the Executive Committee of the FIF to quickly take the wise decision to return to reason by migrating to the FIFA Connect Programme, for the good of all the players in Ivorian football in arrears!
We hope that these elements will allow everyone to get an opinion on what the clubs are going through, whose umbrella bodies show such levity, incompetence and opacity in their management. As for those who do not want to see anything …
By Master Roger OUÉGNIN
