The Tunisian Football Federation has prolonged the term of the current board of the National Professional Football League after the cancellation of the body’s recent elective assembly.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the federation confirmed that the decision followed a ruling by the electoral appeals commission, which annulled the outcome of the league’s elective general meeting.
As a result, the existing leadership of the National Professional Football League will remain in place for a transitional period that will not exceed six months.
The move is designed to ensure continuity at the head of the professional competitions while the federation works through the implications of the annulled vote.
Without such an intervention, the country’s top domestic leagues would have faced a governance vacuum at a critical point of the season, with major administrative, regulatory and organisational decisions pending.
Although the federation did not provide details of the irregularities that led to the annulment, it confirmed that the appeals commission had formally invalidated the results of the election, thereby stripping the newly elected board of its mandate.
In practical terms, this has restored authority to the outgoing executives, who had been preparing to hand over power.
The temporary extension, capped at six months, is intended to give the federation sufficient time to put a fresh electoral process in place.
During this period, the current board will continue to oversee the running of the National Professional Football League, including matters relating to competition calendars, disciplinary procedures and coordination with clubs.
The episode highlights the recurring governance challenges that have marked Tunisian football in recent years.
Disputed elections and legal challenges have frequently disrupted the work of football institutions, prompting interventions from oversight bodies in order to safeguard the functioning of the domestic game.
For the federation, the priority now is to restore clarity and legitimacy to the leadership of the professional league.
The statement underlined that the extension is strictly temporary and that a new vote will be organised once the necessary conditions are met.
By limiting the mandate to a maximum of six months, the authorities aim to prevent the interim arrangement from becoming a long-term solution.
Clubs competing in Tunisia’s top divisions are expected to be briefed on the next steps in the coming weeks.
They will be looking for assurances that the forthcoming election will be conducted in a manner that avoids the procedural flaws that triggered the annulment.
Until then, the outgoing board remains responsible for guiding the league through the remainder of the season, with the federation keeping a close watch on the process.
The hope is that, by the end of the transitional period, the National Professional Football League will once again have an elected leadership whose mandate is beyond dispute.
