Campaigners who are meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels later this month said that the "time has come for a 'new FIFA' following years of scandal and corruption," according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. The campaigners will "discuss how to make it happen" at the meeting. The summit on Jan. 21 has been organized by U.K. Conservative MP Damian Collins, a "long-time critic" of the way FIFA has been run. Delegates will include FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne, former FIFA official Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the head of the technical inspection team for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, and former FA Chair David Triesman. Collins, a member of parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, said, "People have had enough. I speak to amateur and professional players, fans, and mums and dads whose children play and love the game. It has reached the stage where FIFA is a laughing stock. We all love the game. But we all detest how it's run." Collins said that the "recent events concerning the Garcia report into the conduct of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Bids was the final motivation needed for him and others to take action." Collins: "Like the decisions surrounding Russia and Qatar, the farce surrounding the Garcia report is symptomatic of a governing body where democracy, transparency and accountability were long ago forsaken in place of corruption, mismanagement and self-interest" (REUTERS, 1/8).
BLATTER WELCOMES CHALLENGE: The PA reported FIFA President Sepp Blatter "has welcomed the prospect of an election battle." FIFA VP Prince Ali bin Al Hussein is the "first credible challenger to emerge against Blatter." Blatter: "I can only rejoice in this nomination. We are a democracy, and this can only be beneficial for debate." He "then went on to quote a French proverb," adding, "And do not
they say that to win without peril is to triumph without glory?" (PA, 1/8).
