November 6: Activists have called for FIFA, its leadership and governance, to be placed under a permanent external regulator.
The Football Action Network, Fossil Free Football and Champions for Earth want an “independent external oversight body” to be established to scrutinize FIFA, a demand that comes as the fallout from Gianni Infantino’s World Cup privatization plans continues. On Thursday, Japan’s FIFA Council member Kohzo Tashima announced his intention to run against Infantino for the presidency.
The campaign supports FairSquare’s FIFA reboot campaign, arguing that “this meaningful reform is impossible if FIFA remains responsible for policing itself”. The London-based NGO has called for Infantino to be declared ineligible to run again because FIFA’s statutes limit a FIFA president to three terms.
They want the permanent independent body to “investigate FIFA’s governance and decision-making; require the disclosure of relevant documents and evidence; review major strategic decisions before they are implemented; recommend corrective action where governance failures are identified; and suspend, veto or overturn decisions that violate FIFA’s statutes, human rights obligations, environmental commitments or good governance principles.”
Under Gianni Infantino, FIFA has always maintained that it was reformed in the wake of the FIFAGate scandal in 2015, but after plans to sell the World Cup, the FIFA president said he would be open to a governance overhaul. Last month, at the latest FIFA Council meeting in Zurich, FIFA said a committee would be established with powers to assess the organisation’s decision-making structures.
In a statement, Niall Couper, chairman of the Football Action Network, said: “FIFA has insisted for years that it is committed to transparency, accountability and good governance. The problem is that every major controversy ends with FIFA investigating and saying everything is fine.
“No organization with this level of power and influence should be able to operate without significant independent scrutiny. Football deserves stronger protections than this. Players, fans and communities around the world deserve stronger protections than this.”
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