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Tahar Sioud Resigns, FTF Still the Same

July 16th, 2008 | By: Rami | 17 Comments »

Tahar Sioud is officialy gonzo. His time at the head of the FTF was one where he made countless mistakes and multiplied their negative effects by being unwilling to admit them and being generally dysfunctional in his dealings with the press. People used to complain about Lemerre a lot but with the arrival of Sioud there was yet another reason to be unhappy about the national team and the state of football in Tunisia.

Kamel Ben Amor, a guy I referred to as a mumbling goofball in a previous post, takes the “vice” out of his title and becomes President at least until September when there will be a general assembly. This is where elections will take place to determine who will head the football governing body of our country. Am I being too hard on Ben Amor? I’m judging him simply on one appearance he made on Dimanche Sport. That’s not exactly a good reference point but I saw what I saw and needless to say I wasn’t impressed.

This article in La Presse draws a more hopeful picture, citing his long distinguished career within the FTF where he has worked with a number of different presidents and colleagues. My reaction: “Whoopty damn doo.” Why you might ask? Hasn’t Rami been complaining about Sioud this whole time? Answer: The La Presse article I cited above makes a very important point: no one else in the FTF stepped down and no one else is going to get fired imminently. This is the crux of the problem. The FTF is like the mythical hydra, if you cut off the head, a couple new bureaucrats will grow in its place (where’s Hercules when you need him?).

The Usual Suspects It’s simple. I want to see all of them gone. Every single one. We need a fresh start. Fate had it that Sioud stumbled upon Coelho.

It’s funny to me that this decision, as haphazard as it was, might actually turn out to be the only good thing the man did with his time at the helm.

Coelho has already delivered on one of his promises which was to bring the national team to new parts of Tunisia as it was announced today that our friendly against Angola on August 20th will be hosted in Monastir (maybe there will be fans now!). Then again, I don’t think we can give credit to Sioud for signing the Portuguese coach, I read a number of articles after the appointment saying that Hergal was the one who identified Coelho as a possibility and then coordinated everything thereafter.

And please, don’t even get me started on the treasurer, Mahmoud Hammami. Whenever I hear him speak I want someone to start throwing rotten vegetables at him. The guy has the fantastic ability to pontificate at length about an issue and somehow leave you knowing less than you did before he started.

It’s time for the people who know football to take over. I’m thinking people like Jenayeh, Dhiab (highly unlikely but let me dream please) and anyone else who has similar credentials. Is this even possible though? Maybe it makes too much sense for it to happen? Ali Labiadh, a man who lost out to Sioud in the last vote, answered whether he would be interested or not in becoming a candidate and replied like so:

“I am happy to have left this domain that has become poisoned. These days, I’m living in peace which I share with my whole family. You informed me about the departure of the current president of the FTF, I have no comment to make. As far as I am concerned, you can be certain that I will never ever come back to it, same as a child will never go back into his mothers womb!” Wow, now that my friends, that says it all!

We need to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Unfortunately we do not seem to have the tools or the willpower to do it. When who you know means more than what you can do, the right people don’t end up with the right jobs.

Dear Coelho, as things stand presently, you are our only hope. Sorry we couldn’t give you a better foundation and sorry you’re surrounded by incompetent fools. Just wait it out till September and who knows maybe a miracle will happen!

In Other News

-Infosfoot reports that the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has just released their new rankings for the world leagues. Tunisia comes in 24th. We are number one in the Arab world, just a hair ahead of the Egypt but to my surprise we are fourth in Africa behind Cameroon, Nigeria, and South Africa. I have to admit I don’t really watch those leagues so I don’t know what they’re comparing us to. I am surprised though…

-Rumor: On Tunisie Foot I read something about Hatem Trabelsi maybe going back to Ajax Amsterdam. No source of info but I’m wondering if our Dutch contingent can shed some light on this?

Tags: Federation Tunisienne de Football, FTF, Group H, Hergal, Humberto Coelho, Kamel Ben Amor, Mahmoud Hammmami, Othmane Jenayeh, Tahar Sioud, Tarak Dhiab

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Comments

By Abdullah | July 16th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

Rami i read that ajax got rid of 8 players (well actually 6), they are loaning 2 young players, and selling 6 of them to foreign clubs.

But there are also rumors that Khalid boulahrouz the moroccan defender has been contacted by ajax (and supposedly is interesseted).

So we will have to see what is true, but it could be all rumours though.
They love to gossip and spread rumours here so dont be suprised if its all made up.

Most of the Amsterdammers love him, and really like the offensive right wing defender, but others think he didnt show enough respect to ajax by leaving for the big bucks in the premier league.

A while back i also heard something about him almost signing to the saudi club al-hilal, he also had contact with anderlecht and Le mans.

But to be honest i have no idea what will happen to him, i just hope he will be fully recovered from that nee injury and finds a good place to play again.

Posted from Netherlands

By Skander | July 17th, 2008 at 4:23 am

I think trabelsi is playing for Al hilal -.-

Posted from Sweden

By Skander | July 17th, 2008 at 4:31 am

YEeeees, Tunisia - Angola will be played in Monastir

Posted from Sweden

By Momo | July 17th, 2008 at 5:25 am

Well I’m glad Sioud was brave enough to quit the job now. It’s the first good decision he made..I just hope this Ben Amor dude is not worst than Sioud..I have a feeling he is not the right man for the job, just like you said Rami. But hopefully he won’t have enough time to become very powerful. Now, when election time comes in September, I want to see those footballing names on the ballots. The likes of Jenayah, Dhiab, Chattali and others. If they really want to serve Tunisian football, then now is the time to step up and do it. I don’t know about the laws though man, I remember they came up with some stupid standards like the BAC+2 thing to be qualified..this will virtually outcast almost all ex-footballers from the race. We will see what happens though. In the midst of these shenanigans, I hope that Coelho and the players will remain focused on their job and not get distracted by these clowns..

By Yassine | July 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am

Finally! Sioud knows nothing about football, his 5>6 theory proved it. But that will change nothing as Kamel ben Amor, who also knows nothing about football (He is a political man) is the new president. He wanted Sioud to resign at all costs (I can give you the sources if you need them). Even the pesident that they’ll ‘elect’ in September will be the same.
That’s the root of Tunisian football problems.
Rami are you sure that the Angola match will be in Monastir? Cuz I wanted to go see it.

By Rami | July 17th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

Woa, cool scoops you got there Yassine. If you don’t mind sharing I’d love to hear more about the inner politics of the FTF. I think we all would.

As for the Angola match I can tell you that it is confirmed for Monastir. Mosaique, La Presse, Infosfoot, Le Temps, they are all reporting that it will be there. Should be nice actually (it can take 20,000). There have been renovations there and it will be a cooler environment since it is not far away from the water. As you all know, when you get closer to the beach there is more of a breeze. Should be better for the players who won’t have to play in an demoralizing empty Rades. Great initiative by Coelho.

Some pictures of the stadium I got from Tunisie Foot:

Google earth: http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4528/capture1ac5.png

Nice field: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/7665503.jpg

Abdullah, thanks for answering my question. I guess we’ll know more as time goes on. And Skander, I’ve heard he’s playing for Hilal too but I haven’t seen it or had it confirmed by anyone. Its just another rumor to me.

Momo, I didn’t know about that BAC +2 requirement! Thats crazy and makes no sense. I understand they want to set standards but this is the wrong way to go about it. The treasurer and the guys who deal with money should have BAC + 2 and above. The President just has to have knowledge of our country’s footballing capabilities and have a good vision for improving them. The only people who can do that effectively are former player and team president I think.

Posted from United States

By Moni | July 17th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

Trabelsi back to Amsterdam ? Don’t believe the hype !

Posted from Netherlands

By Moni | July 17th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

On tunisie foot they also claimed that mourinho was intrested in taking over from Lemerre hehehehehe

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | July 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Haha, that was a joke. It was just someone being like hey he likes Chikhaoui maybe he wants to come coach us! It is true that he likes Chikhaoui though, he said it in an interview with Yahoo sports during the African cup. Maybe the Tunisian Zlatan will join the real Zlatan at Inter one day? You never know.

Posted from United States

By Momo | July 17th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

Yeah Rami that’s true. Anyone that wants to run for the Federal Bureau (which the President of the Federation heads) must have have completed 2 years beyond BAC, I guess it’s the equivalent of an Associate Degree here in the States. Believe it or not, the first proposal had a BAC+4 req. which was simply ridiculous. But “thanks” to Slim Chiboub it was “lowered” to only BAC+2. I don’t know if any of you guyes remember that so-called Extraordinary Meeting of the FTF last year where Chiboub was running the show, even though he had nothing to do with the FTF..well not officially. It was after FIFA pressured the FTF to vote a President in instead of appointing one by the Department of Sports or in other words the Government. There was actually a huge debate about that on (Belmakchouf). It’s simply a very complicated and poisoned environment, in the words of Ali Labiadh. The only way for us to clean up this mess is to put an end to the current administration and replace it with new, clean and progressive people. Anything else will not work.

By Skander | July 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am

When will Chermiti join Hertha Berlin?

Posted from Sweden

By Rami | July 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am

Supposedly after the second leg Confederation Cup match against Esperance (Saturday, July 26). Inshallah.

Momo, thanks for the great info man. More proof that we have a long long long way to go. I’m just hoping we can somehow get an improvement for the next FTF president. I’ll believe it when I see it though because I’ve been disappointed too many times before.

Posted from United States

By Yassine | July 18th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=10941789
http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=10866069
- http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=10810476 -
http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=10866069
I really don’t know from where he’s getting all this info.
But I’m sure that it’s accurate.
Enjoy and if you want I can give you more links.

By Rami | July 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Yassine, thanks a lot my friend. I agree with your assessment that it is real information. It’s too detailed to be fake in my opinion. I’m guessing its someone who has a family member in the FTF or who works there in some capacity. It’s gotta be because he knows so much. I visit that site once in a while but I guess I gotta start checking out more of fleetoks’ posts.

Posted from United States

By j | July 19th, 2008 at 9:39 am

Rami - unrelated to this post but you were asking about the Red Bull Salzburg v Yerewan Banants match. I am not sure if your players were part excluded with the visa situation but this is the match report:

Yerewan Banants F.C.
1 Evgheni Matiughin
3 Gagik Daghbashyan
6 Andrii Burdiian
20 Hovhannes Grigoryan
5 Sargis Karapetyan
7 Aram Bareghamyan
8 Marko Ganchev
18 Romik Khachatryan
19 Plamen Krumov
11 Arsen Balabekyan
17 Simeon Zlatev

Substitutions
E. Kakosyan für A. Bareghamyan (46.)
A. Hayrapetyan für S. Zlatev (73.)
N. Gyozalyan für R. Khachatryan (87.)

Thanks again -

Posted from Germany

By Yassine | July 20th, 2008 at 5:49 am

Our 2 Tunisian players in Austria, Anis Boussaidi & Mejdi Traoui, play in Red Bull Salzburg and not in Banants. Boussaidi played for 64 minutes before being replaced by Swiss international Vonlanthen. Traoui is out for injury since the Burkina Fasso game.

By Hatem | July 24th, 2008 at 8:02 am

“that will change nothing as Kamel ben Amor, who also knows nothing about football (He is a political man) is the new president. He wanted Sioud to resign at all costs (I can give you the sources if you need them)”.
Yassine, what stupid things you are saying. Could you please provide sources concerning the political career of Kamel Ben Amor and the actions he undertook in order to put Sioud away from presidency.
For pity’s sake, verify before saying bullshit!!!

Posted from France