However, and despite the efforts made by FIFA and UEFA to explain the situation to the members of the FFBH football family, the proposed statutory amendments were refused by the FFBH general assembly for the first time on 16 July 2010. As a consequence, the UEFA and FIFA Executive Committees decided in October 2010 to establish a final deadline of 31 March 2011 for the FFBH by which to adopt the new statutes or face an automatic suspension as from 1 April 2011. Furthermore, FIFA also decided that if such a measure was adopted, a normalisation committee would be appointed to replace the current FFBH Executive Committee in order to solve this situation which is damaging Bosnian football.
On 29 March 2011, the FFBH held an extraordinary general assembly during which the new statutory texts were rejected for a second time. Therefore, the FIFA and UEFA decisions of October 2010 came into force as from 1 April 2011 and the FFBH is currently suspended until further notice.
Due to the fact that a majority of the current members of the FFBH Executive Committee, including the members of the presidency, have openly and publicly opposed the adoption of the FFBH statutes, FIFA – with the support of UEFA – is of the opinion that this FFBH Executive Committee, and in particular its presidency, is not able to lead the FFBH towards a successful revision of its statutes, and therefore both organisations have been working together on the establishment of a normalisation committee to replace the current elected FFBH Executive Committee members (including the members of the FFBH presidency).
The FIFA Emergency Committee decided yesterday, April 12, to appoint a normalisation committee in order to solve the problems faced by the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FFBH), which is currently suspended by both FIFA and UEFA.
A six person normalisation committee with football personalities from Bosnia-Herzegovina has been established and put in place with immediate effect following discussions with various stakeholders and following consultation with UEFA.
As of yesterday, this normalisation committee has taken over all statutory rights and duties of the FFBH Executive Committee as well as of the FFBH Presidency. The mandate of the normalisation committee will expire after new FFBH Executive Committee elections have been held according to the newly adopted FFBH Statutes.
FIFA has set the new normalisation committee the following tasks in its new role;
First phase:
* To prepare and convoke the ordinary general assembly of 2011, where the delegates have to adopt the FFBH statutes and take decisions on all other statutory items, by 26 May 2011 at the latest.
* To ensure that all connections/relationships with any members of the “former” FFBH leadership (FFBH Executive Committee and FFBH Presidency) are cut immediately with regard to the decision-making in financial, administrative, sporting and other matters, and to establish a road map for improvements in this respect as well.
* To take all necessary steps to further improve the financial situation of the FFBH, and to ensure that no new disputes or new financial obligations appear and that all currently known financial debts are paid in time and in full transparency.
Second phase:
* To prepare new elections of all statutory bodies in accordance with the newly adopted FFBH statutes by 30 November 2011 latest.
* To improve the quality within the FFBH administration and foster the credibility and image of the FFBH at national level, implementing any measures necessary as discussed with FIFA and UEFA.
