… GFF ‘mulling’ challenge on use of Andre Boucard

IN AN article first published on Inside World Football Website, the embattled Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), currently ruled by a FIFA Normalisation Committee, could face the embarrassment of losing points from its recent World Cup qualifiers for playing an ineligible player.
Trinidad and Tobago are drawn in a group with St Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Puerto Rico and The Bahamas.
Having opened with a 3-0 win against Guyana, Soca Warriors followed up with a 1-1 draw against Puerto Rico, and in doing so brought on registered player agent Andre Boucard.
Boucard, 36, who last featured for Trinidad and Tobago in March 2017, had not played for at least seven months before his call-up by coach Terry Fenwick.
Trinidad and Tobago registered Boucard as playing for Maidstone United in England’s sixth tier, though a search of records shows no indication of his registration.

However, Inside World Football noted that he was registered as a player intermediary with the English FA.
English FA rules expressly prohibit an agent playing competitively in the elite professional and semi-professional tiers of the game.
Rule 1.2 of Appendix II in the English FA rules states; “An Official (as defined by the FIFA Statues or any successor hereto) or a Player cannot be an Intermediary. An Intermediary becoming an Official or a Player shall have his Registration suspended for as long as he remains an Official or a Player.”
Boucard was subsequently pulled from the list of English FA player agents and his licence temporarily suspended.
The English FA say their rules mirror those of FIFA and while the conflicts that would arise with a player also being an agent are obvious, FIFA’s own rules don’t specifically mention players cannot be agents, though the wording implies that is the case.

However, FIFA’s rules are very clear over sanctions that would be applied if an ineligible player took part in an official match. In this case the sanction would be to forfeit the game.
FIFA’s rules on eligibility reads: “1. If a player takes part in an official match despite being ineligible, his team will be sanctioned by forfeiting the match (cf. art. 31) and paying a minimum fine of CHF 6,000. If a player takes part in a friendly match despite being ineligible, his team will be sanctioned by forfeiting the match and paying a minimum fine of CHF 4,000.”
Meanwhile, a Guyana Football Federation (GFF) official told Chronicle Sport last evening, that the Federation is currently mulling whether or not they should challenge the TTFA over the use of Boucard. The GFF official said they have so far confirmed that Boucard is indeed registered as a player intermediary with the English FA.
If the GFF and Puerto Rico make a challenge and Trinidad and Tobago are docked points, their World Cup qualification group is thrown wide open as they would lose the crucial one point advantage they have over Guyana. It could get worse for the TTFA – though it seems unlikely – if decided, to also overturn the result against Guyana. While on the squad list, Boucard did not feature in that match.