By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – One of FIFA’s most prominent former administrators Jérôme Champagne (pictured) has broken a two-year silence by issuing a hard-hitting assessment of why world football’s governing has become embroiled in such controversy and what steps it should now take to regain global credibility.
The former director of international operations was fired in January 2010 after allegations, never proven, that he was meddling in the affairs of FIFA’s Confederations.
Some reports even suggested he had been courting national associations to promote his own position and had become a threat to Sepp Blatter, whom he had been personally advising.
A former French diplomat, member of the 1998 World Cup Organising Committee in France and respected journalist with France Football magazine, Champagne has recently been advising the Palestine Authority on sports issues, notably football, but has now issued his own blueprint for reform at FIFA with a detailed 25-page report.
Champagne, in particular, addresses the controversial issue of the so-called British seat within FIFA, which historically has given England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the right to nominate their own FIFA vice-president, currently Jim Boyce, rather than have him elected like all other vice-presidents.
“Regarding the British vice-presidency, remnant of a historical domination, it should be discussed without any taboo because it resulted into a long absence of English representative from FIFA’s highest body and a feeling of isolation and resentment towards FIFA among the English football community due to inter-British rivalries around the three Celtic nations,” says Champagne.
“One can even believe that without this statutory British vice-presidency, English football which brings so much to world football would have been much more often elected to the Executive Committee.”
Champagne, alarmed that FIFA’s own independent Governance Committee chaired by Swiss professor Mark Pieth will not achieve the required objective of eliminating corruption, has sent his own proposals to all 208 FIFA member nations.
“After two years of silence, I wish now to contribute to this debate,” he said.
“Because I love passionately this sport called football.
“Because I think that the FIFA I served loyally during 11 years, has a fundamental role to play for the governance of football.
“Finally, because I am convinced that our world needs the universality of football and its transformative power to become fairer, more solidarity and more united around common global goals.
“Like the other human activities, football has been through a deep evolution in the past 20 years with the impact of a loosely-controlled globalisation, of a strong increase of inequalities in parallel of a phenomena of sport, financial and commercial concentration, and of the search of sport success at any cost.
“Changing trends influencing our societies – growth of individualism, influence of new technologies, extreme and instant mediatisation of any event, preference for short-termism – obviously affect football as well.”
Champagne lists the following key principles for consideration:
1. These are a proactive FIFA for football governance.
2. Football associations repositioned at the heart of the decision-making process although still involving confederations, leagues, clubs and players.
3. Fairer football income redistribution to compensate current inequalities.
4. Governance based on modernity, transparency, democratic debate and ethics.
He then goes on to list a series of recommendations as follows, including giving greater decision-making responsibility to member nations instead of leaving the most important issues to the executive committee.
– Revive the democratic debate within football pyramid.
– Increase even more development programmes with new solidarity mechanisms.
– Involve leagues, clubs and players in the decision-making process.
– Restore the role and the centrality of the FAs while clarifying the relations with the confederations.
– Adjust FIFA to the evolutions of today’s world to reflect them better.
– Reshuffle the power responsibilities between the FIFA President, the executive committee and the associations.
– Strengthen FIFA’s governance structures.
– Reform FIFA’s administration.
– Modify the insulation of refereeing debates.
– Define and implement a more comprehensive notion of autonomy.
– Reconnect FIFA with the “people of football”.
In an interview, the 53-year-old Frenchman explained further why he had chosen now to give his version of how to solve FIFA’s current crisis.
“After my 11 years with FIFA I think I have something to contribute to the debate and to stimulate it, while recognising that no one has all the answers,” he said.
Champagne is particularly strong on the need for a radical overhaul of the voting procedure.
“The key issue here,” he told Reuters, “is for the President to have an Executive Committee who back him, for a President and executive to share the same vision, so that modernising reforms and other ideas are implemented and not blocked.”
He suggests an increase of the Executive Committee from 24 seats to 31 with future seats open for direct representation for the clubs, women and players.
“The world has changed and FIFA must adjust to reflect these changes better,” Champagne said.
He hopes he may yet still return to FIFA at some stage given that two of the organisation’s most influential powerbrokers are no longer there.
“Some people attacked me, like Mohammed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner,” he said.
“They are not part of FIFA anymore.”
Champagne will still not discuss his departure from FIFA but was viewed as one of Blatter’s most trusted allies before the pair fell out spectacularly.
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