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FIFA President Gianni Infantino Seeks Backing For Reforms

New FIFA President Gianni Infantino will "seek more support for reforms to the scandal-rocked world football body when its leaders and annual congress meet in Mexico City this week," according to the AFP. With "new corruption and legal fallout hitting almost daily," the FIFA leadership "will also have to give new details of the cost of the scandals as well as admit Gibraltar and Kosovo as new members in the face of opposition from top members at the annual congress." Infantino and top leaders on the FIFA Council will meet on Monday "just after the Court of Arbitration for Sport announces its ruling on an appeal" by former VP Michel Platini against a six-year ban. A win for Platini "would not change FIFA," where his former deputy Infantino took over in February. But the Frenchman "could still reclaim his place as UEFA's president" (AFP, 5/8).

LIFETIME BAN: REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported two leading former South American football officials, including one who sat on FIFA's exec committee, "were banned for life on Friday as the fallout continued from the graft scandal that has engulfed the sport." The ethics committee of football's ruling body said in a statement that Chilean FA President Sergio Jadue and former Colombian FA President Luis Bedoya "had been found guilty of five offences under the federation's code of ethics including bribery." The ethics committee said that "the two men had breached articles on general conduct, loyalty, duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting, conflicts of interest and bribery and corruption" (REUTERS, 5/6).

'FIERCE' OPPOSITION: NEWSWEEK's Damien Sharkov reported Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic said that the country will use "all available legal measures to fight the decision by UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, to admit neighboring Kosovo as a member." Kosovo declared independence in '08, but Serbia, "along with others including Greece and Russia, object to the declaration." An independent Kosovo "is not recognized by the U.N., but is recognized by the likes of the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany" (NEWSWEEK, 5/5). IANS reported Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) Secretary General Eroll Salihu said that the FFK and the Serbian Football Union "should try to separate their teams and prevent their face-to-face contacts in European tournaments." Salihu: "We have good relations with the Serbian Football Union and we are going to resolve the question of separation of our teams. I believe that for the moment it would be appropriate to avoid direct contacts with each other" (IANS, 5/8).

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