FIFA and the Gambia have agreed a compromise over the dissolution of the west African country's FA which will hold elections for a new board later this year, world soccer's governing body said on Wednesday. The decision comes after a meeting between FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Gambia sports minister Alieu Jammeh in Zurich on Tuesday, in which it was agreed a "normalisation" committee would take over the running of the FA's affairs with elections due to be held by the end of September.
The deal sees off the threat that the Gambia could be excluded from June's start of the group stage of Africa's qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. "The tasks assigned to the normalisation committee include the adoption of new statutes in line with FIFA recommendations and the organisation of the elections of a new board according to the new statutes," a FIFA spokesman said in a statement to Reuters.