Two More FIFA Watchdogs Step Down Following Firing Of Miguel Maduro

The "latest ethics crisis" shaking global football "intensified" on Wednesday as two members of FIFA’s governance committee resigned over the firing of their chair, according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Between the ethics committee and the governance committee, "six officials have now been ousted or quit in protest in the last week." Navi Pillay and Ron Popper, both high-level int'l human rights advocates, quit after Miguel Maduro, a former advocate general of the European Court of Justice, was replaced after just eight months leading FIFA’s governance and review committee. A FIFA spokesperson said of Pillay and Popper, "We accept their decision." The departures "are a challenge to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who rose to power" after many of FIFA's senior leaders "were caught in a global corruption scandal." Infantino's efforts to "present a new FIFA" at last week’s annual congress were "overshadowed by his moves to replace the organization’s ethics leaders" (BLOOMBERG, 5/17).