JFA suspends national football coach

AMMAN — The Jordan Football Association (JFA) on Monday decided to suspend the national team’s head coach, Paul Put, effective immediately.

The JFA’s executive commission on Tuesday said it is examining the updates of Put’s case, according to a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

Put faces two years imprisonment for “match fixing” after the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled on the trial round of “match fixing” in Belgium’s football league in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons, when Chinese businessman Zheyun Ye, who had allegedly invested in clubs with the intention of fixing matches, had asked Put, former SK Lierse coach, to pay several players at his club to deliberately lose matches, according to Belgian media reports.

Commission members discussed all the details mentioned in a comprehensive report prepared by the JFA secretary general through contacts with all relevant parties, and took their decision, the JFA statement said.

The association is now waiting for more details on the coach’s legal status before making a final decision. The statement said the JFA appointed Put as head coach in June, after a football ban against him in Belgium expired in 2011, and he had coached two national teams after that year, adding that it had sought approval from FIFA before appointing Put.