London – Leading sponsors of FIFA have demanded independent oversight of the reform process ahead of a key meeting to finalise proposed reforms by the world football governing body.
The companies which include Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s Corp and Visa Inc. stated their position in a letter to the body, and made available to newsmen on Wednesday.
“We are aware of the positive work that the reform committee has been doing on governance reform, but we still believe any reform should be subject to independent oversight,” the sponsors’ stated in the letter.
“It has also become clear to us that such independent oversight needs to run long-term through the implementation and evolution of the reform process.
“We encourage you to become champions of this independent oversight as it will only enhance FIFA’s credibility.”
Reacting to the development, FIFA’s reform committee chairman Francois Carrard, said the committee would submit its recommendations to the executive committee on Wednesday and Thursday before publicly presenting it.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
In November, the reform committee published its “preliminary recommendations” which suggested an age limit of 74 for all leading officials, but only mentioned term-limits for the president, who would be restricted to three mandates.
The final list of proposed reforms would be put to FIFA’s 209 member associations at an emergency congress in February.
The football governing body is facing unprecedented pressure to overhaul its governance and improve transparency following the May indictment by U.S. authorities of 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives on corruption-related charges.
Many of those indicted by U.S. authorities had served on FIFA’s executive committee or other FIFA panels.
The FIFA crisis escalated in October when its president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini, who had been favourite to succeed him, were banned for 90 days by FIFA’s ethics committee pending a full investigation into a two million Swiss francs ($1.95 million) payment from FIFA to Platini in 2011.
Swiss public prosecutors are also investigating alleged irregularities in decisions to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar, both taken at a vote in Zurich in December 2010.(Reuters/NAN)
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