FIFA "presented the detailed reforms it will ask members to adopt in February at a special congress that seeks to restore its reputation and elect a new leader," according to Shields & Homewood of REUTERS.
The reforms "include limiting the number of terms top officials can serve, following the banning for eight years of Sepp Blatter, who had been FIFA president for 17 years." His reign "ended in the worst graft scandal of the body's history."
The amendments "also seek to put a tighter rein on FIFA's 209 member associations and separate policy and management positions, with a 36-member FIFA council replacing the 25-member executive committee." Acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou said,
"I hope that all of the confederations and our member
associations will fully embrace these reforms. This will demonstrate to the world that we have listened and learned from recent events and are taking the necessary steps." The draft statute amendments released on Wednesday "take responsibility for good conduct right to the top." One amendment reads,
"The President shall aim to foster a positive image of FIFA and to ensure that FIFA's mission, strategic direction, policies and values, as defined by the Council, are protected and advanced" (REUTERS, 12/23).
FIGUEREDO ADMITS BRIBES: REUTERS' Matias Larramendi wrote a lawyer said former CONMEBOL VP Eugenio Figueredo admitted that "he received bribes from television firms in exchange for maintaining media rights." CONMEBOL "is heavily embroiled" in a worldwide football corruption probe led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Figueredo arrived back to his native Uruguay on Thursday "after being extradited on corruption charges from Switzerland, where he was arrested in May." Pablo Barreiro, the lawyer representing Uruguay's footballers' union which laid corruption charges against Figueredo in '13, said that "he had admitted that the heads of South America's various football associations received important sums of money in exchange for the media rights to tournaments." Barreiro said, "This is the flow of money that the prosecutor ... understands constituted money laundering and essentially fraud" (REUTERS, 12/27).
FIFA REPORT: The BBC reported FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein "wants Michael Garcia's report into allegations of World Cup bidding corruption to be published now." The full report "may not be made public until Swiss authorities conclude a criminal investigation."
Prince Ali said, "People need to know what has been going on at FIFA" (BBC, 12/27).
