Reform proposals approved by FIFA members

At today’s Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zürich, which will also elect a new FIFA president, 179 of the 207 FIFA members eligible to vote, voted ‘yes’ to the full reform package as proposed by FIFA’s Reform Commission chaired by the former IOC general director François Carrard. Only 22 voted against the proposals.

The reform package was first presented to the FIFA executive committee on Dec 3 2015, when Swiss authorities made their second set of arrests of FIFA officials.

The package, whose passing was largely anticipated, addresses essential issues in the former governance tradition in FIFA. The most remarkable proposal is probably to replace the Executive Committee by a ‘Council’ that will have a more guiding and strategically directing role and have relatively little decisive power on day-to-day basis. This is one of the key moves in a reform package that looks to separate the management part of the organisation from the political.

The package will also limit terms of office to three periods of four years, integrity checks, more transparency regarding remuneration of officials and more women in official positions among other things.