FIFA’s executive committee was set to open a crucial meeting yesterday, with major reforms up for review, as outsiders voice doubt that world soccer’s tainted governing body is capable of fixing itself.
The reform package is the work of a panel led by Francois Carrard, who won praise for overhauling a graft-ridden International Olympic Committee (IOC) more than a decade ago and is now tasked with a similar job at FIFA, mired in an unprecedented scandal.
At the two-day meeting at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters, Carrard’s proposals are to be presented to the body’s top brass — minus its suspended president and vice president, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the highest-profile casualties of the chaos within the organization.
FIFA’s executive committee can demand changes to the reform plan, but if approved, the package is to be sent for adoption at a meeting of FIFA’s 209-member associations on Feb. 26, when Blatter’s replacement is also to be chosen.
A FIFA official, who requested anonymity, said that if the reforms are approved quickly this week, “it means their content is inadequate and will not change much.”
“However, if there is a debate, it is a good sign,” the official added.
The source’s comments point to the main obstacle facing the reform effort: It must be approved by individuals who might be accustomed to FIFA’s well-documented rotten ways.
In a preliminary report in October, Carrard’s panel floated the prospect of capping presidential terms at 12 years and barring those over the age of 74 from serving on the executive committee. It further suggested that compensation for senior officials be published annually and audited by an independent body. The executive committee would also be stripped of some powers.
Whether those reforms would ever come into force is not yet clear, but some say that despite Carrard’s strong credentials, his mission is destined to fail, as his panel is dominated by FIFA insiders, a clear departure from the lauded IOC cleanup team he led in the past.
“What is actually needed is an independent set of executives that have no ties in world football, walking in and cleaning this place up,” said Declan Hill, author of The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime.
Hill, an expert on corruption in FIFA, described the Carrard panel as “an appearance of change, an appearance of reform.”
That sentiment echoes calls from some of the major corporations which sponsor the FIFA World Cup. Visa, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, have all issued demands for outside figures to lead the rescue effort at FIFA.
The evening before the much-anticipated meeting, Transparency International’s managing director Cobus de Swardt predicted Carrard’s committee “will likely avoid taking some hard decision about changing the way FIFA does business,” because doing so could affect the committee members themselves.
Whatever gets decided in Zurich, the glaring absences of Blatter and Platini is likely to overshadow the meeting. Both men have been implicated in a criminal corruption probe by Swiss prosecutors, which triggered 90-day suspensions imposed by FIFA’s ethics committee.
FIFA’s in-house court is to decide this month whether to enforce tougher penalties urged by ethics investigators, including possible life-time bans from soccer. Defenses and appeals by both men are pending, but Platini’s chances of succeeding Blatter as FIFA’s president seemingly grow more remote each week.
The UEFA president had been the favorite to win the vote, backed by the support of European soccer’s governing body.
The five approved candidates continue to make their case ahead of the poll. UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said in India at the weekend that he would start the cleanup at FIFA on “day one,” if he wins the race for presidency.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, former French diplomat Jerome Champagne, South African business tycoon Tokyo Sexwale and Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa round out the group of candidates. Their reactions to the Carrard’s reform plan is likely to be closely watched by those calling for sweeping change within world soccer.
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