Tunisia’s football federation (FTF) president Wadie Jary has been banned by the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) for four years.
In a statement, the NOC stated that Jary had ‘breached national and international Olympic ethics codes’.
The Olympic body said it would be forwarding any complaints – which ‘do not fall under our jurisdiction’ – against Jary to both the International Olympic Committee and Fifa.
Jary, who has governed the FTF since 2012, is hoping to become a member of the Confederation of African Football’s Executive Committee when elections take place in March.
It is unclear how the NOC’s ban will affect his candidacy, which is being assessed by Caf’s governance committee this week, if at all.
Given Jary is not a member of Tunisia’s NOC and without the country’s football teams having qualified for the Olympics, his working life is set to be unaffected.
“I didn’t know I’m an elite athlete eligible to compete in the upcoming Olympics,” Jary wrote on social media in response.
A complaint against Jary was brought by CS Chebba, a club who had contested Tunisia’s top division last season but who were relegated to the amateur leagues last October.
Tensions between Jary and Chebba began in 2019 when the club’s leadership criticised the FTF president on its Facebook page following a match in which the coastal-based club believed it had suffered from poor refereeing decisions.
Chebba was fined shortly afterwards but their refusal to both pay the fine and to pay their registration for the new 2020-21 season on time resulted in the FTF’s decision to demote them.
Although the statement failed to specify it, it is understood that comments made by Jary on television last year contributed to the ban – allegations that he denied when posting in response to his ban on Facebook.
“Chebba filed a complaint … accusing me of instigating violence,” he wrote. “I stand by what I said. I respect everyone (and) I respect all regions.”
He also added that he believes the ban “has no legal grounds or effect on my FTF presidency, and has nothing to do with football activity, neither nationally or internationally as far as Fifa and Caf are concerned.”
