LIMASSOL: Cypriot football is moving further forward in pursuit of a rapprochement between the Greek and Turkish sectors of the island game, though the road ahead remains far from straightforward writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

World federation FIFA and European body UEFA have been notified formally by the Cyprus Turkish Football Association that its 42 clubs have ratified the provisional arrangement agreed provisionally by the two federations.

The clubs from the north, according to president Hasan Sertoglu, had “expressed their joy and excitement for the prospect of being able to play football at the level of the whole island and at international level.”

FIFA’s executive committee, meeting later this week in Costa do Sauipe ahead of the World Cup draw, will be pleased to hear of substantive progress.

The next step may be more complex: the Turkish Cypriot clubs are attracted partly by the possibility, down the line, of international competition. However that will engage European political sensivities at a much higher level than ‘mere’ football.

Domestic integration is one thing: international involvement status for clubs from the largely unrecognised Turkish enclave would be something else.

##############