Guatemala’s national soccer federation (FEDEFUT) will be suspended due to “interference of third parties” in a doping case involving four players, FIFA announced on Thursday.
The decision came in the wake of the Sports Confederation of Guatemala’s (CDAG) decision to suspend a FIFA-appointed committee that has been overseeing FEDEFUT since the arrest of former federation president Brayan Jimenez on corruption charges in January. Jimenez pleaded guilty in the US to racketeering and wire fraud conspiracies in July.
The CDAG suspended the FIFA-appointed committee earlier this summer after ruling that the committee did not carry out a procedure correctly while investigating Guatemalan players who had been sanctioned for alleged doping.
The Bureau of the FIFA Council has given the CDAG until October 1 to reverse its decision, otherwise FEDEFUT would be suspended with immediate effect.
Primo Corvaro, FIFA’s head of member associations, told reporters on Wednesday that the CDAG’s suspension of the FIFA committee unacceptable “government” interference.
Guatemalan outlet FDP Radio reported that the suspension of FEDEFUT means that the Guatemalan national team, which was recently eliminated from CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, will be barred from international competition for six months.
The report also indicated Guatemalan club sides would be suspended from international play, which would affect two MLS clubs competing against Guatemalan opposition in the ongoing CONCACAF Champions League group stage. The New York Red Bulls are in Group F with Antigua GFC, while FC Dallas are in Group H with Suchitepéquez.
A CONCACAF spokesperson confirmed to MLSsoccer.com that if a suspension were to occur, it would only take place after the Oct. 1 deadline, meaning that the Red Bulls' game at Antigua on Sept. 27 and Dallas' home game against Suchitepéquez the next day would be unaffected.
If a subsequent suspension were to rule the two teams out of international play, they would by rule forfeit any match affected by a score of 3-0. This would potentially affect the outcome of Dallas' final game of the CCL group stage, as they are scheduled to travel to Suchitepéquez on Oct. 20.
Antigua are in third place in Group F in the CCL, six points behind group leaders New York Red Bulls after the MLS side's 1-0 win over Alianza on Thursday. Antigua would need to win out (and likely need to beat the Red Bulls by two goals) to steal the group away from New York, but would not be able to do so if they are unable to fulfill their Oct. 18 fixture against Alianza.
Suchitepéquez are in second in Group H, tied on four points with first-place FC Dallas. With both teams already having twice played Real Estelí, the last-placed team in the group, they will effectively play a home-and-away series for the group title in their Sept. 27 and Oct. 20, as the first tiebreakers in CCL group play are head-to-head record between teams involved, goal differential in games between the teams involved, and goals scored away from home between teams involved. Naturally, a 3-0 forfeit in their October home game against Dallas would represent a huge blow to the Guatemalan side's chances of upsetting their US opponents.
