BAGHDAD: Police today seized control of the offices of Iraq’s football association after its governing board was dissolved on charges of links to executed dictator Saddam Hussein. “We are inside the headquarters to protect the premises and the fittings,” Colonel Abdel Amir Rissan, who heads a police team in charge of security for official buildings, said. “We are here also to prevent the offices from being attacked or robbed... and our presence aims to protect employees until the provisional administration takes over,” he said. The association’s deputy secretary general, Tareq Ahmad, standing outside the offices, said a decision had been taken to evacuate the premises because staff could not work with the police presence. On Tuesday, FIFA gave the authorities in Baghdad a 72-hour ultimatum to reinstate the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) or risk suspension from international football. World football’s governing body said it had learnt that “the Iraqi Olympic Committee announced the dissolution of the governing board of IFA.