Sports legal experts identified four legal loopholes in the decision taken by the Association of Professional Football Association to cancel the Arab Gulf League without crowning the champion of the competition, and not to increase the number of competition clubs from 14 to 16 clubs, after canceling the relegation to the First Division, as well as climbing into the limelight. They told «Emirates Today»: «The first loophole lies in taking the decision to increase or decrease the number of professional clubs without completing the quorum.
It is two-thirds of the members with nine votes, not eight, as it happened, and therefore the vote should be re-voted or the decision considered null and void, and the second with a separate general assembly for professional clubs without amateurs, which led to determining the fate of first-class clubs, while such decisive decisions would have been better Through the General Association of the Football Association ».
They added: “The third loophole was the lack of coordination of the association with the Football Association in a decisive and important decision, as stated in Article 27 of the statute of the General Assembly of the Professional League. The fourth is embodied in resorting to voting on the decision, which led to the cancellation of the league without crowning a champion or Drop or rise, knowing that the association should have decided to cancel the league directly without linking the matter to the vote.
The Extraordinary General Assembly of the Professional Association decided, during its meeting, the day before yesterday, with the video communication system "remote", refusing to crown Al-Ahly youth with the league title that stopped since mid-March, due to the measures taken against the spread of Corona virus, after eight clubs voted Out of 14 against awarding the title to Al-Ahly youth as the leader of the competition, in contrast only six clubs voted in favor of it.
Everyone is a loser
Former Member of the Board of Directors of the Football Association, Chairman of the Committee on the Status and Transfers of Former Players, Dr. Salim Al-Shamsi, confirmed that “voting on the decision with eight votes against increasing the number of clubs compared to six supporters violates Article 27 of the association’s statute, which states that the issuance of the decision by a vote of two-thirds of the members, that is Nine votes out of 14 votes, considering that "the consequence of this decision is null and void, as it is a crucial and important decision for all clubs, whether professional or amateur."
Al-Shamsi added, “Article 27 of the association’s articles of association stipulates that the general assembly has the right to approve an increase or decrease in the number of professional clubs that are members of the general assembly whenever it considers it, as required by the public interest, by at least two thirds of the members who have the right to vote in coordination with the federation. the ball".
Al-Shamsi explained: “The other violation was the decision not to coordinate with the Federation, although it should have been done according to the statute, as there are common rights in this article of the association’s statute with the first-class clubs that are affected negatively or positively by any decision. In this regard with regard to increasing or decreasing the number of professional league clubs, bearing in mind that this article of the statute was within the statute of the General Assembly of the Football Association in which all clubs, including professional league or first-class clubs, participate, and to avoid any problems in the future, it must Reconsidering this article, so that the right to increase or decrease the number of clubs is an inherent right of the Football Association and not of the League, so as not to be harmed by the consequences of that first-class clubs, so I think that the decision issued by the Association's General Assembly deprived amateur clubs of their rights ».
He continued, "The association's board of directors had three options before it, namely that Article 88 of the Basic Law gives it the direct right to issue the final decision to complete the competitions or not in the unexpected events and the force majeure for which there was no text in this system."
Al Shamsi said: «The second option that was in front of the League Council is to end the competitions, provided that everything ends as it is, adopting the league arrangement, crowning the leader and another drop in two teams in the ranking of teams to the first division, and the rise of the first and second two teams in the first division , While the third option was to cancel the competition and cancel all results without champion, landing or ascending ».
Al-Shamsi stressed that "everyone lost from the decision to cancel the sports season, and the best solution for everyone was to complete the competition without losing to everyone."
Amateur clubs
In turn, the former member of the Legal Committee of the Football Association, Counselor Abdullah Al-Qadi, confirmed that his speech in this regard is from purely legal matters, asking: “How do professional clubs decide the fate of first-class clubs and this decision should be taken by everyone, including clubs?” First degree », considering that it was necessary to refer to the Legal Department of the Football Association to issue a legal recommendation for the Football Association in this regard before the issuance of any decision in this regard.
He added: "In this regard, the decision must be legal in coordination with the Football Association."
Abdullah Al-Qadi stressed that “the message that (FIFA) addressed the Football Association in connection with the players’ contracts that the League spoke to was based on its decision based on the message issued by (FIFA) that the Football Association addressed to the need to end the sporting season with the players themselves. ” , Saying that «this message should have been presented to the legal administration of the Football Association, in order to adapt the decision legally, and then presented to the General Assembly».
Abdullah Al-Qadi indicated that the association should have taken its decision directly, whether by canceling the league by crowning a champion or without coronation without resorting to a vote on the decision by the general assembly, noting that “Al-Ahly Youth Club as a leader in arranging league teams should not have participated in the vote Or to search for votes to crown the title, to reserve the decision and to resort to the Sports Arbitration Council ».
The judge called the association to hold a press conference to clarify the facts, so that the image becomes clear to everyone.
The personality of the association
As for the legal advisor and former international player Salem Hadid, he described the issue of identifying the league champion through voting as an innovative thing and a new and dangerous approach.
Hadid said: "The association's board of directors should have imposed his personality and taken the decision directly without an assembly." He pointed out that seven rounds remain at the end of the league, describing at the same time canceling the league without crowning a champion with the right decision, given that the difference in points between the leading teams is not Great, and if a team is crowned, there will be some kind of injustice.
Where is the coordination?
“I am not with the involvement of clubs in the process of increasing or reducing the number of clubs in the professional league. Rather, coordination should have taken place in this regard between the Football Association and the League, and the other point is the inclusion of clubs in the issue of voting,” Khaled Obaid said. To win the league champion or not, which caused a kind of sensitivities between clubs ».
The 4 legal loopholes in the association's general decision
1
Take the decision to increase or decrease the number of professional clubs without completing the quorum, which is two thirds of the members with nine votes, not eight, as it happened, and therefore the vote should be re-voted or the decision considered null.
2
The presence of a separate general assembly for professional clubs without amateurs has to determine the fate of first-class clubs, while it was better that such decisive decisions be made through the General Assembly of the Football Association.
3
Failure to coordinate with the Football Association in a critical and important decision as stipulated in Article 27 of the Articles of Association of the Professional Association.
4
Resorting to voting in the decision resulted in canceling the league without crowning a champion, landing or ascending, knowing that the association should have taken a decision to cancel the league directly without linking the matter to voting.