German Football Federation (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach "suggested changing the one-country, one-vote system used to elect the president of FIFA," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. The proposal "was part of a 10-point plan to clean up FIFA that Niersbach sent in an open letter" to his country's 26,000 registered football clubs on Wednesday. Currently, each of FIFA's 209 member associations "has one vote in the presidential election." Niersbach: "I am basically in favor of this democratic participation but I think a certain weight of each vote based on the size and sporting relevance of the federations would be going in the right direction." The proposal "is likely to increase fears among African, Asian and Latin American countries that Europe may use the FIFA crisis as a chance for a power grab" (REUTERS, 6/10). The AFP reported Niersbach "outlined the need for wide-reaching reforms." Niersbach: "I am not so naive to think that the DFB could now reform everything, that needs international alliances and help from the majority, which is difficult to achieve. Even the largest member of FIFA only has one vote, but the DFB, and I as it's president, take on the challenge to make FIFA accountable. We want reforms, we want change and we demand it." Niersbach highlighted 10 points, including finding a new FIFA president "as soon as possible." Niersbach: "With all due respect for his life's work, Sepp Blatter does himself, and football as a whole, no favors by drawing out his resignation." Niersbach also pointed "to the need for reforms in controlling the cash flow for development projects and wants to adjust FIFA's voting system." He said, "FIFA supports many projects in the world and thus does much good. It must be our common goal to prevent unscrupulous people being enriched at the expense of football and tighter cash flows are needed" (AFP, 6/10).
THE PLAN: ESPN's Stephan Uersfeld wrote Niersbach "has been touted as a potential successor" to Blatter when he steps down. Referring to the ongoing corruption scandal at FIFA, Niersbach wrote on the DFB website, "Greed and the lack of morality of a few have put the whole of football under general suspicion. The international football is in its biggest ever crisis! Everything that makes up our beautiful game is at stake."
Niersbach's 10-point plan
1. A "change at the top of FIFA as soon as possible."
2. Resolve "the corruption claims."
3. Introduce "an integrity check for leading figures at FIFA."
4. Allow members of the FIFA congress, rather than the continental associations, "to decide on new members of the Executive Committee."
5. Bring in term limits for the "presidency and other important functions."
6. Make the process of deciding World Cup hosts transparent and "ensure it is closely tied to technical evaluations of potential hosts, as is the case with UEFA."
7. Respect "human rights."
8. Control "cash flows."
9. Adapt the "World Cup voting system."
10. Develop a reform agenda "without the help" of Blatter (ESPN, 6/10).
FIFA MAKEOVER: In a separate piece, the AFP reported Swiss governance expert Mark Pieth, who had been hired by outgoing Blatter to suggest improvements, said that FIFA is "semi-dictatorial" and needs a makeover. The Basel-based expert said that the organization "needed fundamental structural reforms." Pieth: "FIFA already had a semi-dictatorial structure under (Blatter's predecessor) João Havelange and even more so under Blatter." He said the body's governing system was "ultra-presidential with not enough counter-checks." Pieth said that it was necessary to "limit the powers of the president and also the executive committee" and review the "principle of one country, one vote" (
AFP, 6/10).
