Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Najjar gives TTFA challenge little chance of success

Published:Sunday | April 5, 2020 | 12:35 AM

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Former Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) head coach Dr Hannibal Najjar has held out little hope for the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association’s (TTFA) appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s sudden takeover of the organisation.

“I don’t think they have a chance in hell or heaven to be represented because I don’t think we’ve got ourselves strong enough,” Najjar told CNC3 TV here.

“They don’t have enough experience in them and enough contacts to see who they would be able to call to get some kind of assistance on what they could do.

“To come in and move them out in the first place … means they were the wrong choice. You never thought they would’ve won.”

In a sudden move last month, football’s governing body announced that it was replacing the William Wallace-led TTFA executive with a normalisation committee just four months after being elected.

This followed an assessment of the TTFA’s finances, carried out by FIFA, which revealed “extremely low overall financial management methods combined with a massive debt”.

RISK OF INSOLVENCY

With the TTFA “facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity”, FIFA said that it would take charge of the daily operations of the organisation for the next two years so that “corrective measures [could] be applied urgently”.

However, Wallace pushed back against the decision, announcing that the TTFA had retained legal counsel and would “oppose FIFA’s injustice” at the CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Najjar, who led T&T in a handful of matches before quitting in 2003, said he had been left “traumatised” by FIFA’s actions.

“It’s a mess, not only the last few weeks, but it (TTFA) has been running as a messy affair for the last few years,” said Najjar.