October 16: FIFA has pledged to carry out a governance review, but it will not be independent. As for the governance issue surrounding Balogun’s red card, Infantino looks set to absolve himself of any responsibility by throwing the political football at his legal committee.
Turkeys don’t vote at Christmas, and while only FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his senior staff believe FIFA’s internal governance is fit for purpose, not enough FIFA Council members were prepared to advocate root-and-branch external review of many of FIFA’s confederations, and almost all football stakeholders have been demanding since the news of Infantino’s plan to sell FIFA’s commercial rights at the end of july
On 9 August, the presidents of AFC (Shaikh Salman), Concacaf (Victor Montagliani) and UEFA (Aleksander Ceferin), and their general secretaries, wrote to Infantino saying that a report on the FIFA Football Enterprise (FFE) scheme must be done by an independent third party and that no FIFA staff can be involved.
“FIFA has also committed to presenting a full report on these events to the FIFA Council, failing once again to recognize that proper governance in the face of such profound lapses in judgment would require such a review to be carried out by a fully independent third party, not by FIFA itself, its staff or any football stakeholders. The FIFA administration should have no role in the review of the charter.”
Infantino’s response was that he would ask the FIFA Council if they want to commission an “independent external review”. They didn’t do enough, which raises the question of how much any FIFA reform committee can be trusted, no matter how good their initial intentions.
The Council agreed to establish a working group to review FIFA’s governance structure which would include reviewing the powers and role of the FIFA President. The working group will be made up of confederation members and, of course, FIFA staff.
In law, the “appearance of partiality” is one thing. The problem with FIFA that worries its critics is that it appears to be the only one. Numerous federation presidents and football players have told FIFA that they have lost all confidence in the governing body and that Infantino must go. The now “internal” review already looks like a whitewash; if you can’t even go so far as to make the review committee independent, what chance do you have of producing a credible report?
Foul with a red card for Infantino?
Infantino has bristled at the suspension of American striker Folarin Balogun’s automatic match at the World Cup.
Reports this week in the New York Post said Infantino agreed to overturn Balogun’s World Cup suspension during a phone call with President Donald Trump.
The sources said Infantino “agreed to overturn the striker’s suspension” during the call on July 1, in breach of FIFA’s own disciplinary code. “He told President Trump he would take care of it,” one source said. “One call and it’s done.”
Infantino has previously said he had “no involvement in the decision,” although Trump has boasted that he called Gianni to sort it out. A FIFA spokesman said: “Our position has not changed regardless of what unnamed sources claim,” but did not address what Infantino said to Trump in the call.
Two days before yesterday’s Council meeting, FIFA sent delegates a proposal to refer the matter to its legal committee.
It’s a creative way out of one of the biggest problems facing Infantino’s personal leadership of FIFA and has prompted a formal ethics complaint to FIFA’s judiciary.
Interfering with the rules of the game and competition that could also influence the outcome of matches for most football fans, players and stakeholders is the ultimate betrayal of sporting trust and integrity.
Infantino desperately needs to circumvent this problem and with the help of his friends it seems likely that he will.
Maybe giving Balogun a second red card would solve the problem. After all, he started it.
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