FEF does not turn 98 years old, but receives congratulations for the non-existent anniversary

The Ecuadorian Football Federation prefers not to clarify to national and international entities that, on a long list, they salute it for the supposed 98th anniversary that the governing body of national football is not actually celebrating. Conmebol, football federations of Argentina and Paraguay, Pro League and teams Independiente del Valle, Guayaquil City, Macará, Barcelona SC, El Nacional, 9 de Octubre, Técnico Universitario, Liga de Quito, Orense, Universidad Católica, Deportiva Cuenca, and Olmedo is the last took to his official social media on Tuesday to reiterate the “Happy Anniversary” message. FEF answered everyone in the same way: “Thank you very much, let’s go!”

As such, the Ecuadorian Football Association was born on May 26, 1978. That is, it has been active for 45 years. Almost a century ago, at the national level, the rectorship of football and other sports practiced here was held by the National Sports Federation of Ecuador (Fedenador), an institution that still exists and is chaired by the lawyer José Arévalo Santana. Fedenador headquarters is located in Guayaquil, 4.5 kilometers along the coast, Avenida del Bombero. Fedenador is not the predecessor of FEF, with which it has nothing to do.

Ricardo Vasconcellos Rosado, journalist and sports historian, explains: “The National Sports Federation of Ecuador and the Ecuadorian Football Federation are two different institutions, with different dates of birth and each with its own history. Inspired by Manuel Seminario Sáenz de Tejada and the leaders of Guayaquil, on May 25, 1925, Fedenador was founded in the halls of the National College of Vicente Rocafuerte. That entity exists to this day and has its own legal personality, its own statute and even its own building.

Belonging to FIFA

And regarding tricolor football and its affiliation with FIFA, allegedly achieved by the FEF, as stated on its website, Vasconcellos Rosado comments: “In 1922, at the request of the seminary, the Sports Federation of Guayaquil was founded, which later called the Guayaquil Federation of Guayas Sports. It was the only multi-sport entity that existed in Ecuador. Thanks to Seminario’s efforts and his contacts with Franz Reitchel, the Secretary General of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Fedeguayas was accepted into the membership of FIFA and the International Tennis Federation. In 1925, when Fedenador was founded, Fedeguayas ceded his international connections to it.

When Guayaquil hosted the South American Football Championship in 1947 and 1959 (a tournament called Copa América since the 1975 edition), the organization, hiring of coaches, costs related to the work of the national team and other issues were the responsibility of Fedenador, because the FEF was not created. Even on the posters of the 1959 South American competition, the name of the National Sports Federation of Ecuador appears as the highest authority, the local level, of the Conmebol competition.

In addition, the emblem of the national team jersey contained the initials of Fedenador (FDN), who played a decisive historical role when, under the presidency of Federico Muñoz Medina, it was decided that Ecuador would compete in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time in 1960. FIFA, goes to Chile in 1962. It was even Fedenador’s shield that appeared on the shirts of the national team (later replaced by that of the Ecuadorian Football Association, because the Association did not exist yet).

Fedenador was not FEF

AND Manual FIFA 1932-1933. confirms that Fedenador, not the current FEF, joined Ecuador to that body. On page 134 it says: “National Sports Federation of Ecuador. Admitted provisionally: January 10, 1925 Affiliation: June 4, 1926″.

On June 2, 2020, sports journalist Alberto Sánchez Varas, now deceased member of the National Academy of History of Ecuador, denied in EL UNIVERS that the FEF was founded 95 years ago that year. “It is unfounded. And I’m surprised Conmebol says that too because they don’t have a record of their subsidiaries as far as I know.”

Of the claim that Ecuafútbol was born as the National Sports Federation of Ecuador, in 2020 Sánchez Varas was adamant in stating that he rejects it: “That’s not the case either,” he said. And he presented the argument: “That statement is not real because Fedenador continues to exist, so it cannot be said. Fedenador used to be an entity that governed all sports, not just football. That institution is 95 years old, not FEF”.

And he finished: “We organized the Copa América in 1947 and 1959, and Ecuador took part in the qualifiers for the first time (to Chile in 1962) under the responsibility of Fedenador because the FEF did not exist.”

Ecuadorian Football Association

Meanwhile, Vasconcellos Rosado, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the House of Culture, “Until 1967, Fedenador held the sports power, that is, the international representation and international connections. When there was a reform of the federal statutes and the creation of national federations by sport, in June 1967, the Ecuadorian Football Federation was born.

Add this: “When the Sports Law of 1978 was passed, the federations became national federations by sport, and on May 26 of that year, the name Ecuadorian Football Federation was created. The first president of the FEF was Cesáreo Carrera, who had to change his name. He was elected president of the Ecuadorian Football Association in 1975, and his mandate lasted until December 1978. (D)