UEFA wants FIFA reforms in 3 months after crisis

UEFA wants FIFA reforms in 3 months after crisis

Published Jun. 17, 2011 2:00 p.m. ET

European football's governing body urged FIFA on Friday to implement ''concrete'' changes within three months to deal with world football's worst corruption crisis.

Allegations of bribery during the presidential election led to FIFA executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner being suspended pending a full investigation.

Earlier this month, Sepp Blatter began his fourth term as FIFA president unopposed after bin Hammam's withdrawal by pledging a ''zero-tolerance'' approach to corruption.

UEFA, under President Michel Platini, wants Blatter's promised changes to FIFA to be carried out promptly.

ADVERTISEMENT

''The executive committee takes good note of the will of FIFA to take concrete and efficient measures with regards to good governance, expects to see results within the next three months and is following the situation closely,'' the committee of top UEFA officials said in a statement.

The hard line taken by UEFA in its statement was later underlined by its executive committee member Jim Boyce, who is also a FIFA vice president.

''All of the UEFA executive committee are absolutely adamant that FIFA has to do something and has to be seen to be doing something,'' Boyce told The Associated Press.

''We have given three months to see if appropriate action is taken by FIFA. Obviously we will discuss that again at the next meeting (in September).''

As he was re-elected, Blatter immediately sought to prove that his promise of reform was genuine with a major policy shift on how the World Cup venues are announced.

Future World Cup hosts will be decided in a vote of all 208 federations instead of FIFA's 24 executive committee members.

Corruption claims during last year's contest to decide the 2018 and 2022 hosts led to executive committee members Amos Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii receiving bans.

Blatter's toughest critics are at the English Football Association, which tried to get the June 1 presidential election suspended after bin Hammam's withdrawal.

While the FA failed to gain enough support for the motion at the FIFA Congress, its leadership claims that demands for reform led directly to Blatter changing the World Cup voting system.

The FA is now waiting for more details on Blatter's reforms during his final four-year term.

''We have exchanged correspondence with Blatter now,'' FA general secretary Alex Horne said. ''We intend to meet him in the not-too distant future to understand his proposals for reform, to understand his independent committees for reform, what exactly he is trying to achieve to improve transparency and the things we really stood up for in congress.''

The FA is yet to be convinced about the merits of Blatter appointing opera great Placido Domingo and former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger to a committee of ''wise men'' to help clean up FIFA.

Meanwhile, the ethics commission of the International Olympic Committee is looking into corruption allegations leveled at former FIFA President Joao Havelange, who now serves as an honorary president of the footballing authority.

Though FIFA is not investigating a BBC report that Havelange received a $1 million kickback in 1997 when he was still president of world football, the matter has been taken up by the IOC - where the Brazilian is the committee's longest-serving member with 47 years' service.

The ethics commission asked the BBC for any evidence of wrongdoing last year and is assessing what it has received since.

''The commission has received supporting documents from the BBC and is now in the process of verifying the authenticity of the material that has been gathered so far,'' the IOC said Friday.

---

AP Sports Writer Rob Harris in London contributed to this report.

share