Bassam loses FIFA's support, faces stringent demands

Around the beginning of the previous government’s tenure, President of FAM (Football Association of Maldives), Bassam Adeel Jaleel, flew to Switzerland for a FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) meeting and met the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino. At that time, Bassam’s leadership was facing imminent threats due to the then Sports Minister, Ahmed Mahloof’s attempts at submitting a no-confidence motion against him.

He had shared these concerns with FIFA president Infantino in an unofficial meeting, seeking assistance to preserve his leadership, which Infantino had then assured.

However, five years later, this is no longer the case.

FIFA no longer supports Bassam, and their letters to FAM have turned from mere warnings to harshly-worded demands, to compel obedience.

They had also issued strict warnings against the misuse of the funds sent to FAM for unrelated expenses and sternly instructed the agency to provide elaborate details of its use.

“FIFA sends the quarterly budget after receiving the expense details of the previous budget, according to their general procedure. However, based on their correspondence it is clear they no longer trust FAM’s finance management.” A former participant of FIFA and FAM activities said.

Various ministers of Youth and Sports had attempted to inform FIFA of FAM’s misconduct, with previous Youth Minister, Ahmed Zuhoor directly sending a letter to FIFA which had then been ignored.

During a FIFA delegation’s visit to Maldives in 2018, to investigate the uproar caused by Minister Mahloof’s attempts to pass a no-confidence motion against Bassam, Sports Minister Ali Waheed has made efforts to privately meet the delegation. However, the team had offered no such chances.

However, it is now clear FIFA is finally aware of FAM’s misconduct as evident with their indifference to the raid the association on the orders of Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem to investigate the money laundering of FAM leaders.

During that time, Bassam’s associates had spread rumors of FIFA’s intentions to suspend Maldives, implying that it will occur at any time. However, FIFA had feigned ignorance on the matter.

“Do you think FIFA would be ignorant of the police raid on FAM? FIFA has their means and they have neutral representatives for each country. They are match commissioners. FIFA will clarify information with them as well,” A former participant of FIFA and FAM activities said.

FIFA and AFC (Asian Football Confederation) will become aware once a club communicates with the Regional Federation. A supporter of the FAM FAM leaderships opposition candidate, Ahmed Thoriq said that the required information following the recent misconduct were acquired by writing to the AFC through a club.

"Clubs are a powerful component. The clubs and individuals who had previously attempted to change the FAM’s management lacked knowledge of this. The difference between knowing and not knowing is evident this time. As Tom (Ahmed Thoriq) is aware, he knows the route to reach AFC and FIFA to proceed with this."

He highlighted the resignation of Hussain Jawaz, Bassam’s General Secretary for 8 years, who had been the communication link between Maldives and FIFA/AFC during that time. Despite not having any official ties with FIFA, he emphasized that Jawaz has connections with various representatives of FIFA and AFC.

Bassam loses FIFA's support

A source stated that FIFA and AFC had knowledge of FAM’s mismanagement of funds earlier as well.

“AFC had deposited USD 1 million once. AFC’s audit team had noticed that they funds had left FAM's account. However; details of the transaction were not made available” He said.

Mihaaru News received information that the funds were used to make payments for the Amin Avenue apartments owned by Bassam.

After FAM’s mismanagement surfaced, an investigation team from FIFA visited the Maldives and acquired information from the Maldivian investigative police team.

"FIFA had noticed another problem as well; that the loan issued by them during the Covid-19 Pandemic was used indiscreetly," informed a trusted official to Mihaaru News.

He added that during the time when Bassam had flown to France to meet with FIFA’s President Infantino, they had no confidence in him.

“FIFA is no longer with Bassam. That is guaranteed,” the official said.

During the 2020 FAM elections held to continue Bassam’s tenure, according to the parliament’s orders after considering the mismanagement, a notice to halt the elections was issued by Mahloof. However, claiming that FIFA may suspend Maldives, the elections were conducted. This time, however, FIFA had issued the order to halt the FAM elections, making it evident that FAM has lost face with FIFA.

FIFA has been made aware of FAM’s failure to adhere to their guidelines, as FAM had neglected to form the committees as directed by FIFA’s fundamental guidelines for four years.

Moreover, an additional catalyst for losing trust in FAM’s leadership was the increase in cases for the failure to compensate foreign coaches brought to the Maldives. Due to the issue of delaying payments for four foreign coaches brought to instruct the Maldivian national team, the FIFA tribunal has been notifying FAM to pay over MVR 7 million from 2022 onwards. After the deadline expired, some coaches had requested to take action against Maldives as well.