FIFA confirms its strong commitment to reforms by adopting governance structures and road map

FIFA confirms its strong commitment to reforms by adopting governance structures and road map

Following the proposals made by the FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter, at the last FIFA Congress on June 1 in terms of good governance, transparency and zero tolerance towards wrongdoing on and also off the pitch – proposals which were overwhelmingly approved by the Congress – the FIFA Executive Committee, meeting yesterday and today at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, agreed on a series of major measures:

- the creation of four task forces, mandated to propose reforms:
• “Task Force Revision of Statutes”, chaired by Dr Theo Zwanziger (Germany)
• “Task Force FIFA Ethics Committee”, chaired by the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, Claudio Sulser (Switzerland)
• “Task Force Transparency and Compliance”, chaired by Juan Ángel Napout (President of the Paraguayan FA) and Frank Van Hattum (President of the New Zealand FA)
• “Task Force Football 2014” (operating since May 2011), chaired by Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)

- the creation of a “Committee Good Governance” (to be established at the next meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee in December 2011) which, among other tasks, will oversee reforms undertaken by FIFA. It will comprise of representatives not only from the international football family but also from other spheres

- establishment of a “FIFA Good Governance” road map (between today and the 2013 FIFA Congress) according to which the first reform proposals will be submitted by the four Task Forces to the Executive Committee in December 2011

It should be noted that since the last FIFA Congress, FIFA has taken the step of consulting external bodies and experts such as Transparency International and Prof. Mark Pieth on governance matters.

More detailed information on the measures taken today is provided in the document linked on the right.

Furthermore, following a proposal from the FIFA President, the Executive Committee stated its full support for the release of the dossier on the ISL-ISMM case. However, this can only be done after a thorough legal analysis because of the complexity of the matter. The case will be opened at the next meeting of the Executive Committee in December 2011. It will then be given to an independent body for further examination.

Other items:
- 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™
• The match schedule of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ and key match assignments for the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 have been approved (more details can be found through the story on the right).
• Mexico’s qualifier scheduled on 18 June 2013 has been moved to 4 June 2013 due to the team’s participation in the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013; moreover, the release period for players for this date, which is an international friendly one, will be extended from two to five days (only for Mexico and their opponents)

- Swiss club FC Sion/Olympique des Alpes SA (OLA): the case was discussed today without FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini due to their direct involvement. The Executive decided to give a deadline of ten working days to the Swiss FA to implement the decision taken by the Emergency Committee on 5 October 2011 (more details can be found through the story on the right)

- Humanitarian help: the Executive has ratified the decision taken in August 2011 to make a donation of USD 1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in emergency aid for the humanitarian crisis afflicting Somalia; FIFA’s contribution directly helped over 25,000 families (ca. 150,000 people) in one month
(more details can be found through the story on the right)

- Football development: the Executive was informed that the current number of Goal projects amounts to 556 in 194 member associations

- Member associations:
• Syria: the Executive has confirmed the decision taken on 15 September 2011 by the FIFA Emergency Committee to appoint a normalisation committee whose mandate is to organise elections by 11 December 2011 at the latest; this follows the resignation of all members of the Syrian FA’s Executive Committee
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: in order to respect the statutory provisions and to ensure a smooth process, the mandate of the normalisation committee has been extended until the elective general assembly but no later than 31 December 2012

- Football Federation of Kosovo (FKK): following UEFA’s stance on the matter, the FIFA Executive Committee confirmed that the request of the FKK to play international friendlies cannot be approved

- 2013 and 2014 FIFA Club World Cups: Morocco is the remaining bidder to host the tournaments. A further analysis of its bidding dossier will be made before a possible decision by the Executive in December

FIFA Vice-Presidents H.R.H. Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (Jordan) and Jim Boyce (Northern Ireland) as well as members V. Manilal Fernando (Sri Lanka), Dr Theo Zwanziger (Germany) and Zhang Jilong (China PR) participated in their first FIFA Executive Committee meeting since their election to this body.

The next FIFA Executive Committee meeting will be held in Tokyo on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 December 2011.