By Matt Scott
June 18 – It is time for state intervention at FIFA after Gianni Infantino’s supposed modernisation of FIFA “plunged it into the Dark Ages of Blatter”, according to the former chairman of the Independent Governance Committee.
Mark Pieth and the IGC’s urgent governance reforms were largely ignored by FIFA in 2012 and 2013 but the University of Basel’s integrity expert believes Infantino has regressed the world governing body beyond where it was when he became president.
In an interview with the Swiss TV channel RTS, Pieth spoke out for the first time since Infantino’s election in February, responding to the dismissal of Domenico Scala, the former audit-and-compliance-committee chairman whose appointment he recommended.
“It’s pretty logical that there’d be fights, disagreements, that’s normal,” said Pieth. “That’s the arrangement. As far as I’m concerned he did his work well.
“They don’t want to be regulated any more. For me, it’s yet another plunge into the Dark Ages of Blatter.
“That’s enough now with this self-regulation. They’re simply not up to regulating themselves.”
For Pieth there is only one solution. “The state has to intervene, it must,” added Pieth. “Maybe it’s a number of states, not just Switzerland on its own, maybe it’s under the auspices of the OECD.”
Another element of alleged regulatory failure at FIFA that has angered Pieth related to the appointment of Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura as secretary general, before she had completed an eligibility check.
FIFA responded to RTC in a written statement. “The salary of Mr Infantino will be lower than that of his predecessor. As for the nomination of his secretary-general, it was correctly processed. The provisions of the new statutes are perfectly applied within modern governance structures.”
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