By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – The former Portuguese government minister removed from his role at FIFA in its clearout of senior governance experts says he would have to turn down any counter-offer by UEFA to take up a similar role because of how it would be perceived.
European football’s governing body is keen to recruit Miguel Maduro, who headed FIFA’s governance and review committee, as part of its own anti-corruption programme, taking advantage of his experience after he was ousted in the Gianni Infantino-orchestrated purge of leading independent watchdogs.
Insideworldfootball has been told by high-ranking UEFA sources that Maduro, who was at the forefront of vetting senior FIFA personnel, is one of the names being considered for a position on UEFA’s recently established governance and compliance committee. Two of those positions are reserved for independent members.
The UEFA hierarchy value Maduro’s expertise highly and are keen to offer him a role now that he is surplus to requirements at FIFA after just a year in charge of the body that carried out painstaking background checks.
But Maduro says that while is flattered by UEFA’s interest, which has come right from the top, he would have to reject any overtures because of the wrong perception that some kind of deal had been made.
“I appreciate the recognition of my work …. but could never accept it,” Maduro told Insideworldfootball by email.
“Even if UEFA and FIFA are different entities there would be the risk of a clear public perception that a quid pro quo was involved with respect to the position I previously held. Those who know me well know I would never accept to be placed in such position.”
Maduro’s comments will disappoint UEFA who are anxious to recruit the most qualified people for their independent judicial roles. But he says it would not look good for UEFA either for him to be approached so soon after being ousted from FIFA.
“For this to have a chance to succeed it is important that whoever is appointed is not appointed under any shadow, so as to have as much authority and credibility as possible. That would be the case if the appointment would risk being perceived as resulting from a quid pro quo.
“For these reasons, it would simply be unconceivable for me to even consider such appointment.”
“During my very short tenure at FIFA, one of the things I argued for, unfortunately unsuccessfully, was for the establishment of cooling off periods for former FIFA officials, in particular those holding independent positions. Even if my period at FIFA was extremely short I still believe that a minimum cooling off period would always be appropriate.”Maduroi
Maduro – removed at this week’s FIFA Congress in the same purge that got rid of ethics chiefs Cornel Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert – revealed in interview with Bloomberg that he had actually proposed while working with FIFA that its main governance positions should be for fixed terms. Removing him so quickly sent out “systematically a wrong message” he said.
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