The door has been opened for suspended Football Association of Thailand president Worawi Makudi to enter the election for the national soccer governing body's top office.
Fifa-appointed"normalisation committee"chairman Adm Surawut Maharom yesterday announced Feb 11 as the new date for the FAT president poll with the last day to submit applications being Jan 11--one day after Worawi completes the 90-day suspension imposed by Fifa's ethic panel for a breach of its codes.
"Today,the committee approved that the new election day for the FAT president will be Feb 11,which is four days ahead of the Feb 15 deadline set by Fifa,"Surawut said.
"these dates will soon be made official by the Sports Authority of Thailand(SAT).While ea haven't set a date to start receiving applications,the process will start in December."
Surawut added:"All applications will be subject to scrutiny and the final list of contestants will be announced on Jan17."
As for the composition of 72 voters for the FAT election,Surawut said:"The 18 Thailand Premier League teams shal be able to cast their ballots without any problems.
"For the first division [second tier]in which there are 20 teams,the FAT had earlier agreed to let those ranked Nos.1-18 on Sept 13 vote.The committee has decided to use the year-end rankings instead."
He added that the 30 second division [third tier]voters would have to be reelected under the 2015 electoral code