#UEFA dragged into controversy over possible re-election of #Albania football chief

A leading anti-corruption campaigner says “serious questions” have been raised about the re-election of the head of Albania's football federation, writes Martin Banks.

Armand Duka (pictured) has been the Albanian Football Association president for 16 years, but faces growing demands to step aside.

Duka is competing for the top job in Albanian football against Bashkim Fino, a former prime minister of Albania who is known for his long-time passion for the game, and Shpetim Hala, a journalist and former referee.

Seeking his fifth term, Duka is a businessman who was elected saying he was determined to improve the image of Albanian football, promote the game and develop the nation's footballing infrastructure.

But it is his own reputation that is increasingly under fire along with concerns about the governance of the Albanian Football Federation.

At the weekend some of these questions were aired on Belgian radio by Gregory Mathieu, a well-known expert on sports governance and corruption.

Speaking on Complètement Foot, the popular Belgian RTBF radio programme, Mathieu, who is based in Stockholm, said that Duka had faced “several scandals” in the past and had “appeared to have tried to find friends to vote for him in the election”>

He said: “This is all about good governance and democracy in football and UEFA should have some moral authority on such things. I believe there needs to be independent observers involved in the election this week and also independent analysis of the outcome.”

Mathieu, a former Belgian diplomat who has previously worked as Chief of Staff to the Belgian Energy Minister, said that failure to act would also call into question the impartality of UEFA which itself has been rocked in recent years by controversy.

Over the past five years Mathieu has been Director of the Fondation pour la Démocratie et la Gouvernance, dealing with human rights, election monitoring and rule of law.

On Tuesday (6 February), this website asked UEFA if it will have officials on-site to ensure that the election this week is properly held. UEFA  was also asked if it is concerned about the state of the sport's governance in Albania.

A UEFA spokesman told EU Reporter: "We can confirm that a UEFA delegation will be present at the upcoming elections at the Albanian FA." He would not be drawn about the state of the sport's governance in Albania.

Duka has stakes in at least 10 registered businesses, most notably a grocery chain Eco Market, the hi-tech giants Go-Tech and the dairy company AIBA.

But despite being a successful businessman, his tenure at the AFF has been marred by frequent corruption scandals.

Federbet, an institution which reports on match-fixing, said it considers the Albanian Superleague, the country’s highest tier of domestic football, to be the “most corrupt competition” in Europe.

In February 2017, in report on a fixed match, Federbet wrote: “This is not football, this is prostitution. Huge scandal in Albania.”

In 2016, UEFA banned the Albanian champions, Skenderbeu Korçë from taking part in the UEFA Champions League, because the team was proven guilty of fixing a number of international official matches.

In order to improve his chances of winning another term, Duka has been accused of amending the voters’ list in middle of last month, by adding 12 “ghost” associations, most of them said to have  “close ties with him”.

According to inquiries made by this website, it is believed there could be a potential conflict of interest involving at least four of the current directors of these 12 associations.

The associations will vote together with the registered clubs who play in the professional and amateur tiers of the Albanian leagues.

Asked by the Albanian media, the chairman of a regional association in Tirana, Sulejman Mema said: “I am not aware my association has been registered. It’s all been done by the AFF.”

The chairman of the regional association of Lezha, Ritvan Kulli reportedly said: “The AFF told me to subscribe. I do not know anything about the documents.”

The senior Albanian league club, Flamurtari Vlore, has deposited criminal charges in the Prosecutor Office, regarding the “unlawful registration” of associations.

There have been also allegations the AFF has “abused” the UEFA fund, including the “Solidarity Fund” and “Grassroots Programme”.

Albanian media documented in 2010 and 2012 how a number of football fields for children in Durres and Elbasan, sponsored by UEFA through the Grassroots Programme, had allegedly never been built.

Duka, who has also been accused of using a number of UEFA events to advertise his companies, was not immediately available for comment.

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