New Sports Administration Director-General Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄) said he is confident that the Chinese Taipei Football Association would be able to complete its board members and overseers elections by Aug. 15.
The association has been plagued by internal disputes for about eight months and Kao’s predecessor Lin Te-fu (林德福) was unable to resolve them.
The stakeholders involved in the dispute all respect the National Sports Act (國民體育法) as well as instructions given by FIFA in its correspondence with the association, which is the main reason for his confidence, Kao told a news conference following his inauguration ceremony on Friday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
FIFA wanted the association to hold a board meeting to determine the status of five of its members whose qualifications are in question, Kao said, adding that he personally examined the FIFA letter, which was dated June 27.
The Sports Administration has consulted legal experts at the Ministry of the Interior, who said that the sports body can intervene in the association’s internal operations, given the situation, he said.
“It is my understanding that the association will soon hold the elections for board members and overseers and convene the meeting for all members, as requested by the Sports Administration and FIFA,” Kao said.
If the association chairman deliberately delays enforcing any of the procedures, members of the board could convene a meeting for all members if they have gathered signatures for their proposal, based on the association’s rules, Kao said.
Asked if he intends to continue the soccer development plan launched by his predecessor, Kao said the Executive Yuan listed it as a key project, which must be enforced.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) has said that the nation would spend the next 10 years investing resources and training soccer players, Kao said, adding that his agency would seek opinions from experts on how it should execute the plan to achieve optimal success.
His first task as the director-general is to prepare the national team’s athletes and coaches for the Asian Games in Jakarta next month, Kao said, adding the government is ready to give them its full support.
Not only will the government charter flights to transport the athletes, it will lease apartments near the game venues for athletes to stay during the games, Kao said, adding that this would ensure that athletes would not spend too much time commuting between the athletes’ village and their sporting venues.
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