The Minister for Sports is calling on the world body for football, FIFA, to intervene and resolve the soccer infighting within the country.
Justin Tkatchenko said PNGFA president David Chung and John Kapi Natto both have a heart for soccer but unfortunately, they cannot work together and are making the sport fail, affecting players and clubs.
Tkatchenko said the best solution is for FIFA to intervene and say enough is enough.
“FIFA must be concerned with what’s happening in PNG as we are now having two different, separate identities running football,” said the Minister.
“How can sponsors come on board and how can the sport keep moving forward when you got two different groups running the same thing.
“We can only hope that some common sense prevails at the end of the day and I’ll be interested to hear what FIFA has to say about what’s currently happening in PNG.
“For me as Minister, I have no power to direct or intervene in this area, all I can do is advise and tell them what should be done for the benefit of the sport,” Tkatchenko said.
Tkatchenko said the last resort will be to write to FIFA on this issue.
Newly established soccer body, Football Federation Papua New Guinea (FFPNG), was launched on Saturday, February 25. It is led by John Kapi Natto with the inclusion of 12 associations from around the country.
The 12 associations are Hekari, Lae Football Association, Koupa, Wabag, Mendi, Bougainville, Manus, Madang, Lahi, Goroka, Tabubil and NCDPSSA.
They have all chosen to break ties with the PNG Football Association and agreed to take a new course under the new banner.
The new federation launched their semi-professional league, the National Football League (NFL), to run alongside the PNGFA’s National Soccer League (NSL).