Top FIFA Adviser Alexandra Wrage Steps Down Following Rejected Provisions

One of FIFA's leading advisers "has resigned in protest" over her belief that key proposals to reform the organization have been watered down, according to Richard Conway of the BBC. Alexandra Wrage, an authority on corporate anti-corruption, quit the Independent Governance Committee last week. FIFA set up the IGC to help it become more transparent following several scandals. Wrage said the proposed reforms had been "neutered." Wrage, "a Canadian member of the IGC, said she was 'frustrated and surprised'" that FIFA had failed to back "several measures she regarded as 'really bland, straightforward governance provisions' after a meeting of its leading executive committee in March." In a separate development, a long-awaited report into the bribery scandal surrounding FIFA's former marketing agency, International Sport and Leisure, will be released later this week. A file prepared by FIFA ethics investigator Michael Garcia was passed to ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert several weeks ago (BBC, 4/22).