Football officials from Cyprus said Wednesday that differences between football authorities on the divided island could be settled as part of a wider political accord.
FIFA has given the unofficial Turkish Cypriot Football Association (CTFA) a mid-September deadline to agree a compromise that would help end its teams' 34-year isolation from the football world.
The deal depends on CTFA accepting the authority of the internationally recognized Cyprus FA, which represents the majority Greek community.
Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish-dominated north and Greek-led south since 1974, when Turkey sent troops to the island following a short-lived coup staged by supporters of the union with Greece.
"I think there is a good opportunity now," said Haris Loizides, vice president of the official football authority CFA. "If there is a political settlement then the football issue will be a minor thing because it will be part of all the other arrangements to bring the two communities together."
Loizides told The Associated Press he hoped the process would be helped by talks between political leaders scheduled Sept. 3 to begin exploring a reunification of the island.
FIFA brought the two Cypriot sides together for the first time in September 2007. They later met on two occasions in the divided capital city Nicosia.
The world governing body last month presented Turkish-Cypriot officials with an eight-point plan which offered the opportunity for their teams to play matches against clubs from other countries.
The CFA would have to approve the games because FIFA rules do not allow for two associations to operate in one country.
"FIFA has tried to keep this as a truly football discussion," Loizides said in Geneva, where Cyprus played Switzerland in a friendly match later Wednesday.
"It is a win-win situation. It doesn't undermine the recognition that we enjoy internationally as the Cyprus FA. At the same time it gives the Turkish Cypriots a way out of this isolation that they have been in, in terms of football."
The Cyprus FA would also allow Turkish-Cypriots to run their own coaching and refereeing programs, he said.
Loizides said the FIFA proposal, if agreed, would stay in place only until a longer-term political peace deal was found. Peace talks had been stalled since 2004, when Greek Cypriot voters rejected a U.N. reunification plan that Turkish Cypriots accepted in simultaneous referenda.
"It is good that we now have talks between our leaders," he said. "Hopefully that will initiate a positive momentum."
The potential reunification of Cypriot football comes at a time when its national and club teams representing the Greek community are making progress on the international stage.
Cyprus has risen to 62 in the FIFA world rankings after a series of good results in the qualifying phase of the last European Championship. It beat Ireland 5-2, Wales 3-1 and held future Euro 2008 finalist Germany to a 1-1 draw in Nicosia.
Last week, Cypriot champion Anothorsis beat Greece's Olympiakos 3-0 in the first leg of a Champions League qualifier. If it holds on in the return match next week, Anothorsis will be the first team from Cyprus to reach the lucrative group stage of the tournament.
It has played home matches in the southern city of Larnaca since being cut off from its traditional home of Famagusta in the north in 1974.
Nicosia-based Omonia then beat another top Greek side AEK 1-0 in Athens in the UEFA Cup. Omonia's return match is also next week.
"The Turkish Cypriots are also football-loving people like we are," Loizides said. "I think that they must see this progress of Cyprus football and, of course, they should be more than keen to join."
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