By Andrew Warshaw in Budapest
May 24 – FIFA’s 62nd Annual Congress officially opened here today with the usual pomp – and a note of controversy provided by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Orbán (pictured above), the last main speaker of an otherwise back-slapping opening ceremony full of the usual schmaltz and platitudes, used the platform to warn Western politicians not to boycott the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.
Several Governments, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have threatened to stay away in protest over Ukraine’s treatment of jailed former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
However, Orbán said: “Sport and football should be about uniting people but a boycott can only divide.
“It will not hurt political leaders but only the ordinary people and fans.
“I remember the boycotts and anti-boycotts of the Olympic Games in the 1980s and the wounds it created in the souls of the fans.
“These are wounds which have never been healed and which take away and destroy the joy of our wonderful joint games.”
The actual business of the Congress gets into its stride tomorrow.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s two-year road map to reform is at the halfway stage and Blatter believes his organisation, battered by a series of scandals over the last year, is already on the right track.
“I am sure you will see at the Congress that we are…heading to calm, clearer waters,” he said.
Certainly, there will be fewer fireworks than this time last year when Blatter was re-elected amid a stream of bribery and corruption allegations at what was an often bitter congress in Zurich.
Since then recommendations made by an Independent Governance Committee (IGC) include FIFA’s Ethics Committee being split into two – one part to investigate, the other to adjudicate.
The Budapest Congress will also co-opt the first woman in FIFA’s 108-year history to its Executive Committee in Lydia Nsereka, President of the Football Association of Burundi (FFB) and also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
As well as changes to FIFA’s statutes, the Congress is also expected to welcome the newly independent state of South Sudan as FIFA’s 209th member association and approve changes to insurance rules, which will now cover players on international duty.
One thorny item that could come up in any other business is a proposal by Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) to remove its former general secretary Chuck Blazer (pictured below) from the FIFA Executive Committee.
Blazer, the main whistle-blower in last year’s cash-for-votes scandal, was himself taken to task by a string of angry delegates at CONCACAF’s own regional Congress yesterday where he was effectively accused of financial mismanagement for at least 18 of his 21 years with the confederation.
Blazer, whose term with FIFA ends in mid-2013, categorically denies any wrongdoing.
“I spent 21 years building the confederation and its competitions and its revenues and I’m the one responsible for its good levels of income,” he said in a statement.
“I’m perfectly satisfied that I did an excellent job.”
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