The First Armenian Front (FAF), a supporters’ movement for Armenia’s national football team, has addressed an open letter to the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) and its member organizations, calling for the Armenian-language proficiency requirement to be retained.
The movement also called for the proposed amendments to the federation’s statutes to be publicly justified and for clarification of how they were developed.
“Ahead of the FFA extraordinary assembly scheduled for November 4, we express our concern over the proposed statutory amendments. According to the FFA’s official statement, the proposal would remove the requirements for candidates for FFA president to be proficient in Armenian and to have permanently resided in Armenia for the preceding year.
“Our position is clear: the Armenian-language proficiency requirement must be retained.
“We believe this is not merely a formality. It is important for the head of the FFA to communicate directly with coaches, players, clubs and supporters, understand their concerns and participate in professional discussions.
“Under Article 10 of the FFA Statutes, Armenian is the official language of the federation and its assembly, while the Armenian-language versions of documents take precedence over versions in other languages.
“We value international experience and connections. However, we do not believe these should be placed in opposition to knowledge of Armenian and direct engagement with Armenia’s football community.
“We are also concerned that changes to candidate eligibility requirements are being proposed ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Such a decision must be justified by the federation’s long-term needs and submitted for open discussion.
“The FFA has published the list of member organizations that supported the request to convene an extraordinary assembly. However, we also consider it important to clarify the process through which the proposed amendment was developed and formally submitted.
“We therefore demand public and substantive answers to the following questions:
- Who drafted the proposed amendment, and which member or body formally submitted it to the FFA Secretariat? We demand publication of the submitted proposal and its accompanying explanatory memorandum.
- What problem would removing the Armenian-language proficiency requirement solve? What assessments or expert conclusions support the proposal, and how would it contribute to the federation’s effective governance?
- Why is the amendment being proposed specifically ahead of the election?
- With whom was the proposal discussed, and when? Please provide the opinions and recommendations received from FFA members, Executive Committee members, coaches, players and other specialists, and explain how these were taken into account,” the open letter states.
Article 35, paragraph 2, of the FFA Statutes requires amendment proposals to be submitted in writing and accompanied by an explanatory memorandum.
“We demand that the FFA publish the complete draft amendment, the explanatory memorandum, the name of the member or body that formally submitted it, and answers to the above questions on its official website by 6 p.m. on November 3.
“We call on FFA member organizations and assembly delegates to retain the Armenian-language proficiency requirement and not support its removal.
“At the same time, until the questions have been publicly clarified and a substantive discussion has taken place, we call for the final decision on this amendment to be postponed in accordance with the established procedure.
“We do not prejudge the motives of those behind the initiative. However, we expect every change to the conditions for participating in elections to be justified by the needs of football development and applied to everyone according to the same principles.
“The FFA Statutes must serve the long-term interests of Armenian football, regardless of the candidates’ names,” the letter states.
The proposed amendments would remove two candidate eligibility requirements: permanent residence in Armenia during the preceding year and proficiency in Armenian.
The stated justification is that the requirements could disproportionately restrict the pool of potential candidates.
