FIFA bans Yemen after political interference

The Yemen Football Association (YFA) was suspended by FIFA's emergency committee on Friday after "serious interference by political authorities in the internal affairs of the association."

"As a result of this suspension, all international football activities of the YFA (Yemeni domestic club or national representative team matches organised abroad, foreign team matches organised in Yemen, participation in regional tournaments, appointment of Yemeni officials, etc.) are currently suspended until further notice," FIFA said in a statement.

"Furthermore, all FIFA financial assistance payments have been frozen and the YFA has been deprived of its right to vote at congresses held by international football bodies.

"On several occasions both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had warned the Yemeni Ministry of Youth and Sport that it needed to respect FIFA's principles of independence, democracy and due process for its member associations."

In June this year a joint FIFA/AFC delegation visited Yemen to try to establish new statutes and set up elections for YFA positions but there appears to have been little progress.

Yemen, ranked 124th in the world, have never come close to qualifying for a World Cup finals.