By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – Is Angel Maria Villar’s influence as one of FIFA’s most senior figures gradually being stripped away, some might say not before time?
Earlier this week, FIFA unveiled the future structure of its administration by reducing the number of its standing committees from 26 to nine.
The name of Villar, who for years has run Spanish football and was temporarily in charge of UEFA as its senior vice-president following the demise of Michel Platini, was conspicuous by its absence, suggesting he has been marginalised under new regime of Gianni Infantino.
Just under two years ago, Villar replaced fellow FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce as FIFA’s referees chief when the Northern Irishman stepped down. But now he has lost that position to former World Cup referee Pierluigi Collina and does not in fact feature anywhere on the nine new-look committees.
Only a few months ago, remember, Villar was briefly in the running to become UEFA president. That his candidacy didn’t last long surprised no-one given his conservative background and the fact the he had fallen foul of FIFA’s ethics regulations.
Although preaching good governance, Villar himself was fined CHF 25,000 and rapped over the knuckles in 2015 by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for failing to co-operate with an investigation into the contest to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Whether he liked it or not, such a breach of FIFA’s ethics code, however minor, was not lost on his critics and might explain why those running FIFA in the post-Sepp Blatter era may not be comfortable with giving the canny veteran lawyer too much power.
Reports in Spain suggest Villar was taken totally by surprise at being excluded from FIFA’s decision-making bodies. He still of course holds a prominent role within UEFA as well as a place on the FIFA Council. But could he be starting to pay the price for his notorious resistence to reform and change?
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