FIFA’s executive committee met today to take the first steps towards transforming the organisation, discussing key areas of reform and setting the date for the presidential election and Extraordinary Congress at 26th February 2016 in Zurich.
This is significantly later than expected, with most observers predicting a December election.
The meeting was chaired by outgoing FIFA President Blatter, who will not be standing for president again as “a new FIFA President will be elected”, according to a FIFA statement.
Candidates can now declare their interest in running for the office of FIFA President, with a deadline of 26 October. The Ad-hoc Electoral Committee will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, 21 July.
Domenico Scala, chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee delivered presentations on the proposed topics for reform. These include “enhanced centralized integrity checks for Executive Committee members, the introduction of term limits, higher standards of governance at all levels of football structures including confederations and member associations as well as individual disclosure of compensation.”
FIFA is to set up a “Reforms” Task Force with a “neutral chairman”.
The “concrete and comprehensive reform proposals” will be presented at the next ordinary FIFA Executive Committee meeting in Zurich on 24 and 25 September and submitted for approval at the extraordinary Congress in February.
FIFA said its bidding procedure is being reformed in line with the guidance of the United Nations’ strategy for “Safeguarding against Corruption in Major Public Events”. Future World Cup bids will have to recognise the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with which suppliers must comply.
The Executive Committee also stated its firm commitment to reform and “its full cooperation with the on-going US and Swiss investigations”.
Djimrabaye Bourngar from Chad has been appointed as the deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee.
The themes of sports governance and bidding procedures will be discussed at HOST CITY 2015 in Glasgow on 9th and 10th November.
