Chaired by FIFA President Blatter, the Executive Committee today pushed for a range of important reforms to be submitted for decision to the upcoming extraordinary Congress, underlining FIFA’s commitment to better governance and greater accountability. They also decided that this Congress will take place in Zurich on 26 February 2016, when a new FIFA President will be elected.
The reform topics proposed 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.
The members welcomed the presentation on reforms delivered by Domenico Scala, independent chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee. The Executive Committee, supported by the confederations, reiterated its unity and stated its firm commitment to reforms. The executive also stressed its full cooperation with the on-going US and Swiss investigations.
To further strengthen this reform process, it was decided to set up a specific FIFA Task Force ‘Reforms’ to be chaired by a neutral chairman who should be appointed in consultation with the confederations’ presidents. This Task Force will be composed of two representatives of each of the AFC, CAF, CONCACAF and UEFA, as well as of one representative from each of CONMEBOL and the OFC. Concrete and comprehensive reform proposals should be elaborated for presentation at the next ordinary FIFA Executive Committee meeting, scheduled to be held in Zurich on 24 and 25 September 2015, and thereafter submitted for approval at the extraordinary Congress.
One major change had already been agreed by the Executive Committee at the last ordinary meeting on 25 May 2015, with the revised bidding regulations for future FIFA World Cups. As a result, future bids will have to meet a number of important additional criteria. In particular, FIFA will recognize the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and will make it compulsory for both contractual partners and those within the supply chain to comply with these provisions. Furthermore, the bidding documents were also elaborated using guidance of the United Nations’ strategy for “Safeguarding against Corruption in Major Public Events”.
Furthermore, during the meeting, the Executive Committee decided to call for elections and initiated the electoral period with the formal installation of the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee. In accordance with the Electoral Regulations, the committee will consist of the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (Claudio Sulser), the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee (Larry Mussenden) and the chairman of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee (Domenico Scala). This committee will convene for its first meeting on Tuesday, 21 July, to agree on its chairman amongst other matters. As such, as of today candidates can now declare their interest in running for the office of FIFA President.
Given that the extraordinary elective Congress will take place on 26 February 2016, the deadline for submission of candidates for the office of FIFA President must take place in writing, together with the declarations of support of at least five members (cf. art. 24 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes), by 26 October 2015 at the latest. Djimrabaye Bourngar from Chad has been appointed as the deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee until the 66th FIFA Congress in 2016.
Finally, the Executive Committee wished to stress that for the current FIFA activities such as the preparations for the upcoming events, it is important that all operational activities continue to be carried out as planned in order to protect the stability and the future of the organization.
