FSS Assembly Called Off as FIFA and UEFA Weigh Supervisor
A fourth cancelled session, a FIFA and UEFA delegation in Belgrade and a supervisor as the likely fix: what is known the day before Serbia hosts Germany.
There will be no delegates in Stara Pazova on Saturday, November 14. The elective Assembly of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS) will not take place, and Danas has confirmed that this is the fourth time the session has been cancelled. With no bodies that hold a legitimate mandate, the federation now waits for FIFA and UEFA to say who will run it until the next elections.
Why is the FSS Assembly not being held?
The statute requires delegates to receive invitations and materials for a session eight days in advance, and that did not happen. Danas and Espreso report that this creates a risk of lawsuits and court proceedings, since decisions made at such a session could be challenged as a breach of the statute.
Sport klub reported earlier, before the delegation from Zurich and Nyon arrived, that neither a postponement nor a cancellation of the session set for November 14 was on the table. Today that assessment fell apart.
No candidate had applied by the deadline, either for FSS president or for the Executive Committee. New elections are expected in spring 2027. The mandates of the assembly and commission bodies constituted in 2022 have expired, and Sport klub reported that their status will be part of the same package of solutions FIFA and UEFA are preparing.
Who came from FIFA and UEFA, and what are they proposing?
A four-member FIFA and UEFA delegation held separate meetings in Belgrade with the FSS leadership, regional associations, the Clubs’ Association and the unions. Among them is Luka Nikola, FIFA’s director for governance and stakeholder relations, who previously worked at UEFA. The expert group he leads handles crisis situations in national federations and is currently active in about ten countries.
Unofficially, according to Sport klub, the FSS would be run until the elections by a supervisor with the broadest powers and a team of aides. UEFA would appoint the supervisor, and a group of domestic officials would work alongside him. The final decision and the legal framework were expected on Thursday, November 12, which is today. There is still no official confirmation from the FSS, FIFA or UEFA.
According to Danas, the main task of the interim leadership would be to prepare elections at all levels in spring 2027.
What did Poledica ask of the federation?
Pressure also came from the players’ union. Mirko Poledica, president of the Independent Union of Professional Footballers “Nezavisnost”, posted on X on November 8 and judged that the outgoing leadership’s legitimacy ended on November 1. He called on the FSS itself to request FIFA’s intervention:
“I publicly call on the Football Association of Serbia to immediately and without delay inform FIFA of the current situation in the FSS and to request FIFA’s intervention, that is, the appointment of a Normalisation Committee in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 2 of the FIFA Statutes, in connection with Article 3 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes.”
Poledica also added a warning to individuals who keep working without a mandate:
“All further legal actions that the FSS undertakes, and that are not in line with FIFA regulations and applicable legal obligations, will be subject to the legal liability of the individuals who initiate, adopt or carry them out.”
How does all this affect the national team before Germany?
On Friday, November 13, at 8:45 p.m., Serbia hosts Germany in the Nations League at the Rajko Mitic stadium. There will be no fans in the stands, because UEFA punished the federation for discriminatory behavior by fans at the matches against Greece and the Netherlands. A few thousand children will be there instead.
The national team has lost its last six matches, four of them in this Nations League, and has no points in the competition yet. Coach Veljko Paunovic spoke about the instability around the federation in a statement carried by Sport klub:
“I have been in football for a very long time and I know well that when there is uncertainty and a lack of stability, the whole structure starts to shake.”
Ahead of the Germans he also said he wants a fight: “We want to bite and scratch.” The German portal N-TV was harsh in its assessment of Serbian football. “They have no points in the Nations League, they lose, lose and only lose. Their federation is clinically dead,” it wrote at the start of its article.
The decision on the supervisor is expected today, and the match against Germany is played tomorrow evening.
