Wellington, New Zealand, Jun 22 : Suspended Fiji football coach Claudius Canosa says he will take his case to the Oceania Football Confederation if his future is not clarified at the next board meeting of the Fijian association.
Canosa was suspended last week and has been charged with insubordination and bringing football into disrepute for criticizing the Fiji Football Association for changing the national squad without his approval.
“I have submitted a letter to (the FFA) and if they are going to sack me I will ask Oceania Football to investigate the matter,” Canosa told the Fiji Times newspaper.
“These people are unpredictable and I don't know what will be the outcome of the meeting. But definitely I will seek Oceania's help on this.”
Fiji FA president Anil Sharma told local media Tuesday the Argentine coach had been indefinitely suspended and a local manager would likely take the team to the Pacific Games in August.
Sharma described comments made by Canosa about the selection process as “unhelpful but divisive, contradictory and childish.”
Canosa made his criticisms to Fiji media last week, saying a 35-man squad named to play friendly matches against the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in preparation for the Pacific Games had been changed after he believed it had received FFA approval.
He said he had submitted the team to the Fiji association and agreed to one change but further changes had been made after he had left a selection meeting.
Sharma said Canosa's comments breached his contract with the FFA.
“When applied in the context of the letter of contract, it can be attributed as a breach of his contract on his part in challenging the authority of the president of Fiji FA and his nominee,” Sharma said.
Canosa said he believed his contract gave him full authority in team selection.
“I'm a professional coach and I will not sign a contract that will not allow me to take full control of the team,” he said. “Everywhere, it's the coaches who pick and guide the team, so why it has to be different here (in Fiji).”
Sharma said Canosa's contract specified the Fiji FA president could ask the coach to justify any selection.
“In this present circumstance, as acting president, I wish to assert my authority to have the final say for the development of the desirable national team, keeping the interest and aspirations of the technical committee, Fiji FA and all football loving fans into account.” AP
