Transparency International repeats calls on FIFA to deal with the past

Transparency International today reiterated its position on FIFA’s recently announced governance committee.

Transparency International has advised FIFA that an Independent Governance Committee:

• cannot be composed of people who have been paid by FIFA in the recent past;
• and must have the mandate to investigate past scandals.

These were key parts of Transparency International’s recommendations for dealing with allegations of corruption in the governance of world football.

“To ensure impartiality, FIFA cannot appoint members of the Independent Governance Committee if they have previously paid them for work. FIFA can hire anyone it has previously paid for work to support and advise the group, but not to sit on it as a member,” said Sylvia Schenk, senior advisor for sports at Transparency International.

Transparency International continues to call on FIFA to deal with corruption allegations.

“An independent investigation into corruption allegations, past and present, is essential for FIFA to regain public credibility, as well as for trust in its future reform actions,” said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International.

In August 2011, Transparency International’s report, Safe Hands, Building Integrity and Transparency at FIFA, said that an independent entity should carry out a transparent investigation of all corruption allegations. This was part of the recommendation document which called on world football's governing body to carry out comprehensive governance reforms overseen by an independent group.