FIFA asks Israel Football Association to suspend coach Fernandez

The Israel Football Association (IFA) said Thursday it has received an official request from the world football governing body FIFA, requesting that national team boss Luis Fernandez be suspended from all coaching activity, dpa reported.

"The Football Association received an official request from FIFA today concerning Luis Fernandez, saying he must immediately cease all activity concerning football, because of a a debt he owes a club he used to coach in Qatar," the IFA said in a statement posted on its website.

The IFA said it would act after talks next week with Fernandez and his lawyers.

Fernandez responded to the FIFA request by saying that what was at stake was "a legal battle which has gone on for years. I am confident that the matter will be resolved, certainly in time for the matches at the end of March."

IFA Chairman Avi Luzon said he would meet Fernandez next week "and we will jointly see how to resolve this problem which has cropped up."

Fernandez, who once coached Paris Saint German and Real Betis, was appointed in May to coach the Israel national team.

But lacklustre performances by the national side - it has managed only one win in the Euro 2010 qualification games, and lies in fourth position in its qualifying group - has seen Fernandez come in for some fierce criticism."

"Not only have the Frenchman's nine months at the helm been an absolute waste of time, but they have actually set the team backwards," sports columnist Alon Sinai wrote in the Jerusalem Post daily Wednesday.

"A quick look at the results achieved by the Israel national soccer team since Luis Fernandez took charge reveals what a complete and utter failure his time at the helm has been," he wrote, in an article entitled "Fernandez's failings far too evident for IFA to ignore."