By Andrew Warshaw
June 4 – While considerable focus is on the FIFA Congress in Sao Paulo next week, the executive committee agenda which precedes it this coming weekend could be just as appetising, containing a number of highly significant items that have dominated the political landscape in recent months.
Amidst the latest furore over Qatar’s 2022 World Cup campaign, FIFA president Sepp Baltter will provide an update on working conditions in the Gulf state following the recent outcry over the treatment of migrant workers.
Blatter and the executive committee colleague he put in charge of monitoring conditions in Qatar, Theo Zwanziger, recently postponed a scheduled visit to the Gulf state to inspect facilities at first hand after Qatar authorities indicated they were about to make wholesale improvements including scrapping part of the country’s medieval kafala employment system.
Although the latest revelations of alleged vote-buying by Qatar’s one-time Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam is not up for discussion by the exco, it would be no surprise if FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke is questioned about the allegations when he provides an update on preparations for both 2022 and the 2018 tournament in Russia. Valcke is also due to brief members on the bidding procedure for future FIFA competitions.
The Israel-Palestine crisis, Kosovo’s bid for recognition and moves to unify football on both sides of divided Cyprus will also be discussed as will the development of the women’s game.
With Blatter increasingly likely to decide to stand for a fifth term of office, there is also an item that proposes the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to oversee regulations for next year’s election as speculation grows as to who, if anyone, will ultimately take on the 78-year-old Swiss, with the deadline for candidacies in January.
The only candidate to declare that he would run for the presidency so far is Jerome Champagne. Having initially said he would not run as against his former boss Sepp Blatter, he has now changed tune and said that he would take him on. Blatter is likely to run again but doubts still inger over whether Champagne has served in a qualifying football capacity most recently enough to run for the FIFA presidency.
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