By Andrew Warshaw
March 3 – Buffeted by persistent reports of internal unrest, FIFA has put to work the independent external specialists engaged late last year to mediate in staff disputes.
Insideworldfootball has learned that the two Zurich-based experts in employment law, Nirmala Maya Dias and Andreas Blattmann, started their mandate in January amidst rumours of tension and disquiet at FIFA House. Since Gianni Infantino took over as FIFA president, one fifth of FIFA’s 400 staff have either been fired or left of their own accord in what has become a major reorganisation of roles and responsibilities.
A FIFA spokesperson confirmed that the two ombudspeople started their roles in January with a mandate to “work with employees of FIFA to explore and assist them in determining options to help resolve conflicts, problematic issues or concerns” and also “to bring systemic concerns to the attention of the organisation for resolution.”
“They operate in a manner to preserve the confidentiality of those seeking services, maintain a neutral/impartial position with respect to the concerns raised, work at an informal level and outside the organisational system, and is thus independent of formal organisational structures,” the emailed FIFA statement added.
It is understood the reasons behind engaging the two mediators and further details regarding their scope were distributed this week to FIFA staff though it is not known which, if any, specific individual cases have yet been taken up.
To what extent the pair will exert complete independence is clearly an issue.
“We are still in a very early stage of defining our responsibilities,” said Blattman. “I can’t comment on FIFA’s motivation or how long we have been engaged for. But in general, if you look around the world, mediation is normal procedure as a dispute resolution mechanism.”
Last summer, reports in Switzerland claimed the head of FIFA’s travel department Severin Podolak and the chief of the general secretary’s office both left the organisation after allegedly becoming whistleblowers by giving evidence about Infantino to FIFA’s ethics committee.
Unconfirmed reports suggest they were shown the door by FIFA general secretary, Fatma Samoura, either acting alone or under instruction. How Samoura came to learn of the pair becoming whistleblowers is not known but insiders with knowledge of the ethics process suggest their conduct was leaked to FIFA’s senior administration.
Among those who have also left the organisation are medical director Jiri Dvorak, head of the FIFA museum Stefan Jost, head of security Ralf Mutschke, sponsorship chief Thierry Weil, TV sales boss Niclas Ericsson as well as key executives within Communications, development and human resources.
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