"We've already said that our federation had problems," he said.
Doug Logan, the C.E.O., responded Sunday to an unflattering 69-page report issued last month by a panel that examined the federation's problems after the United States won only seven gold medals in Beijing.
The rump federation is having problems electing a president, thanks to low turnouts in recent elections.
The Bosniak-Croat federation faces particular problems: virtually bankrupt, it is saddled with large pension obligations for war veterans.
The Russian soccer federation "understands the problems they face; they seem determined to do what they can," Powar said.
"At present, violations of employees' rights in private firms are to some extent widespread," the federation wrote, with problems including the refusal of companies to sign labor contracts, illegal docking of wages, excessive hours, terrible work conditions and frequent injuries.
But if the EU, or maybe just the eurozone, is a proto-federation, then the problems are more easily resolved.
If the Italian federation has a problem with this claim it has not made it known, perhaps because it is the stars that officially mark the titles and not the phrase.
By late April only two major issues remained, the organisation of a new German federation and the problem of Italy.
Years of failed efforts by FIFA to ease Israeli restrictions on Palestinian soccer and establish a mechanism that would allow the Palestinian and Israeli federations to resolve problems are likely to strengthen the Palestinian efforts to persuade the soccer body to sanction Israel.
