FIFA’s problems will not end with the election of a new president as football’s scandal-tainted world body needs drastic reform, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said on Thursday.
Bach would not comment on the announcement by UEFA leader Michel Platini on Wednesday that he was a candidate to take Sepp Blatter’s place as FIFA president when an election is held next February. But he said in an interview that all candidates had to embrace “transparency”.
“That applies to each candidate. It applies particularly because FIFA’s problems will not be over with the election of a new president. “There must be reforms to the FIFA structure, transparency must be improved, the other structures must be transformed. The election of a president alone will not be enough.”
The IOC chief pointedly avoided involvement in the looming FIFA election battle however. “I am not going to make a comment on the election of federation president. It is not for me to judge,” he said. FIFA was rocked by the arrest of seven football officials accused of taking bribes on the eve of its Congress on May 27.
Bach spoke at the first day of the congress and called for reforms. The following day Blatter was reelected to a fifth term as president but within four days he had announced that he would stand down.
The seven FIFA officials are among 14 people charged by US authorities of involvement in more than $150 million of bribes for football marketing contracts.
AFC chief praises Platini
Platini’s chances of becoming the new president of FIFA received a boost on Thursday when the Asian Football Confederation chief praised him as “a unique candidate” and urged his member nations to unite behind a single candidate.
AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said Platini “would bring stability and a smooth transition to normality for FIFA in this difficult situation” but stopped short of formally endorsing the Frenchman to replace the outgoing Blatter as head of the corruption-stained world body.
The AFC backed Blatter in this year’s presidential election despite the fact his challenger Prince Ali bin Hussein came from an AFC member nation; Jordan. Former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon of South Korea has also signaled his intention to stand in the February 26 election.
CONMEBOl outlines reforms
Asuncion (Paraguay): The CONMEBOl football body will begin publishing the salary of its president and executive council members after being plunged into crisis by the FIFA bribery scandal.
The South American governing body published the anti-corruption measures on Wednesday. They also include the creation of a new post for an independent expert overseeing its implementation.
CONMEBOl also wants to run background checks on potential commercial partners, and improve the drafting of contracts so they can include anti-corruption clauses. Annual audit reports will also be published on CONMEBOl’S site.
“The objective of the Compliance and Enforcement Program is ensuring greater efficiency and transparency in the CONMEBOl’s performance, confirming the strong commitment of our confederation to increasing the integrity of all of its processes and operations,” the football body based in Paraguay’s capital said in a statement.
The US Justice Department has indicted 14 soccer officials and businessmen on charges of bribery, racketeering, and money laundering. Among them are two former CONMEBOl presidents, who are fighting extradition to the US.
Paraguay recently repealed the immunity that CONMEBOl’s headquarters enjoyed for nearly two decades. It included protection from the kind of raids that happened at FIFA and CONCACAF.
The North and Central American and Caribbean governing body published similar anti-corruption proposals earlier this month after its past two presidents and general secretaries were implicated in an American federal investigation of racketeering in international football. The reform proposals include: imposing term limits on CONCACAF presidents and executive committee members; appointing outsiders to the policy-making executive panel and publishing salaries and expenses of top officials.