By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – The prospect of football re-unification between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, an item on the agenda at the two-day FIFA executive committee meeting which began today in Brazil, has received another timely boost.
All 42 clubs belonging to the Cyprus Turkish Football Association in the north of the island have unanimously approved the historic arrangement signed by the two sides at FIFA headquarters last month.
In a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, CTFA President Hasan Sertoğlu, whose organisation in the breakaway north is not officially recognised, conceded there was still “a lot of homework to do” and that resolving a number of sticking points with the Greek Cypriots for jointly organising football would be “very difficult” but could be achieved “with the goodwill of both sides.”
The Cyprus Football Association (CFA), representing the country’s officially recognised federation, recently voted overwhelmingly in favour of the so-called “Temporary Arrangement for Football in Cyprus” even though CFA president Costakis Koutsokoumnis has been accused by some fans of selling out.
The deal was struck after months of sensitive negotiations aimed at ending decades of mistrust and disunity between the respective footballing communities on the divided Mediterranean island.
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