Newly elected FIFA President Gianni Infantino's first major decision in charge of the troubled world football organization will be to appoint a secretary general, effectively a CEO, "to run day-to-day operations," according to Simon Evans of REUTERS. Since FIFA was founded in 1904, it has had 10 secretaries general, all from Europe, "the game’s strongest continent." At an event in London during his campaign for Friday's presidential election, Infantino said, "I am convinced the general secretary of FIFA should not be a European. Why not an African?” A source close to Infantino said on Monday that this "did not necessarily mean that an African would be chosen, more than he had not ruled out an African." That said, there would be "a strong African contender" in the shape of Moroccan Hicham El Amrani. Swiss-based sports business consultant Joao Frigerio said, "He is very, very capable." Infantino might also look to North America, whose administrators "played a key role in swinging votes to the Swiss at Friday's FIFA Congress in Zurich." U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati is an economics professor at Columbia University and "well connected politically" in the U.S. A tweet from sports marketing exec Ricardo Fort suggesting Gulati would be a good choice "sparked speculation in Zurich over the weekend" (REUTERS, 2/29).
REFORMS: SKY SPORTS' Dev Trehan reported measures that will see at least six women be part of the new FIFA Council have been labeled as "huge" by Reform Committee member Sarai Bareman. Oceanic Football Confederation Deputy Secretary General Bareman said, "It's huge for women's football and for women's representation within the administration of football. It's a very, very important step in the reform process for FIFA and for women particularly I think it is a huge step." Six of the 207 federations voting in last week's presidential election "sent women to cast their votes but Bareman was the only woman who was part of the 13-strong panel responsible for drafting FIFA reforms." Bareman: "It's unique being the only woman in the room and with women comes a different sort of a mindset" (SKY SPORTS, 3/1).
SOUR GRAPES: The AFP reported Serie A side Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini has "courted controversy" by claiming Infantino "bought" votes on his way to being elected president of FIFA. Although Infantino pledged to restore the battered image of FIFA, and despite his victory being "widely applauded by key figures" in the game, Zamparini "cast doubt on whether the election process was fully transparent." Zamparini: "The system doesn't change and the new president of FIFA, the chief of bureaucrats, was part of it all before. If he got elected, it's only because he bought more votes than the sheikh (Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa)" (AFP, 3/1).
