The Lebanese Football Association will inform FIFA of government inference if the Youth and Sports Ministry does not abandon its calls for accountability for last week’s vote against Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup. Prior to departing Beirut for the vote in Moscow, the FA had decided to cast its ballot for Morocco.
But after Morocco and a joint U.S.-Mexico-Canada team made their pitches and an evaluation committee gave the joint bid a score of 4.0 out of 5 to Morocco’s 2.7, the three-member Lebanese delegation decided to vote differently.
FA Vice President Raymond Semaan submitted his resignation in relation to the vote late Thursday. But Executive Council member Semaan Douaihy, who “pushed the button” and cast the vote, said the resignation would be refused.
“Either we all stay, or we all go,” Douaihy told The Daily Star Friday. He was referring to the FA’s stance of collective responsibility for the vote, and said he would continue to defend the FA’s choice of vote.
Semaan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Douaihy had already prepared his resignation letter but was told it would not be accepted, when caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Mohammad Fneish called for a meeting with the federation.
Although the FA could have refused the meeting citing FIFA’s ban on political interference within national football associations, it attended nonetheless.
The delegation members explained to Fneish the reasons for their decision to vote for the North American joint bid, and the minister said that FA would make the decision it “deems correct,” in assigning responsibility for the vote.
“The government should not intervene, but they are pressuring the federation to make a decision [to hold someone accountable],” Douaihy said.
He suggested that the ministry, headed by one of two Hezbollah ministers in the caretaker government, has staked a position it can’t back down from, in calling for responsibility to be assigned.
“People say that Hezbollah rules Lebanon militarily and politically – are they willing to allow this to become the case with sports?” Douaihy asked.
“If they [the government] won’t back down, then let FIFA make a decision on the matter,” he added.
