BFA President, David Fani told delegates at the association's biennial general assembly at Boipuso Hall in Gaborone on Saturday that FIFA has a very strong stand against government interference in the running of football. He said offending countries face tough sanctions from FIFA and Botswana would not be an exception. He cited the recent incident when the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) was nearly banned by FIFA after the government decided to pull out the national team from regional competitions for two years following the Super Eagles' early exit from the World Cup in June.
"We believe the initiative (constituency football) was well intended, but we cannot run away from the fact that it is disrupting our football schedule," Fani said. He said they had in the past held several meetings with authorities from the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) and the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture (MYSC) to try and plot the way forward for the tournaments to continue without infringing FIFA rules, but they have not reached an agreement. He said the BFA executive committee has always been concerned about the leagues' structure and format since their establishment two years ago.
