The head of audit and compliance at the Zurich-based Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world governing body for the sport, has released a far-reaching plan for the reform of the organization, putting an end to what he called "conflicts of interest".
Domenico Scala presented the plan to the organization's ruling executive committee in Zurich on Thursday.
"The most significant single problem in terms of the executive committee lies in the misconduct of some executive committee members combined with the problem of 'double' or even 'triple heads' [with some officials holding multiple functions as a member of FIFA's executive committee, as a member of executive bodies of confederations and/or national associations]," Scala said in the plan.
The plan was presented while investigations into corruption at the organization were underway in the U.S.; the probes forced the resignation of the organization's president Sepp Blatter on June 5.
Scala proposed closer regulation of national football associations and regional federations, some of which are targeted in the corruption investigations. FIFA would, in the future, refuse membership to these associations if they did not act according to ethical standards.
He also proposed splitting the leadership of FIFA into two entities, one for management and another for supervision. The executive committee, which directly runs the organization, would be elected in the future, and its powers would be curtailed.
The number of standing committees would also be reduced under Scala's proposals.
And term limits would also be imposed on FIFA officials, both on the executive committee and on committees, the plan suggested.
The FIFA Executive Committee must decide in December which of the proposed changes will be presented to the Feb. 26 meeting of the congress of member associations.
At that meeting, members are scheduled to vote for a new president to replace Blatter. Jordan's Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has already announced a bid for the presidency; he had been narrowly defeated by Blatter in the last election for the post in May. Blatter, implicated in the corruption investigations, resigned shortly after his election.
French former football star Michel Platini is also in the running for the FIFA presidency.
