(ATR) FIFA president Gianni Infantino is coming under increased criticism from both inside and outside his organization for a decision that has already led his audit and compliance committee chairman Domenico Scala to resign.
Scala, who was at the forefront of efforts to clean up FIFA’s battered image in the wake of multiple corruption scandals, quit after Infantino made a change that gives the FIFA Council control over appointing and dismissing members of the governing body’s independent compliance and ethics committees.
Infantino made the announcement during FIFA’s congress in Mexico City on May 13. He claims the move will only last until next year’s congress in Kuala Lumpur and that it was needed to expedite the process of removing discredited members from the committees.
Both the watchdog group Transparency International and two-time FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin al Hussein of Jordan are denouncing Infantino’s move.
Prince Ali, in an interview with Telegraph Sport, said "The way the vote was put to the 209 members of the FIFA congress, as well as the effect of that vote, was a complete betrayal to all of those who thought they had voted for change, transparency, fair play and reform.
"Had delegates to the FIFA congress been given time to absorb what had been asked, or truly consider this motion, I very much doubt that anyone would have voted for it. "
Prince Ali is a former FIFA vice-president and as the current head of the Jordan Football Association was in attendance in Mexico City last Friday.
A Transparency International spokesman, as reported by PA Sport, said of the decision: "The fact the ethics committee and the audit and compliance committee were independently run was a step in the right direction.
"Taking this independence away, even for just a year, is significant primarily because of the way it was done and the message it sends.
"We would have hoped that if the new president wanted to remove people from the committees he could have found a less autocratic way to do it.''
Written by Gerard Farek
For general comments or questions,click here.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
