By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The credibility of FIFA’s already controversial Reform Committee has suffered an embarrassing blow with the revelation that one of the two South American members on the 12-member panel, Gorka Villar (pictured right), has been accused of “pressure and extortion” by eight Uruguayan clubs.
Villar is general-secretary of CONMEBOL, and news of his alleged conduct will add considerable weight not only to the debate about the make-up of the reform body but also to the argument about whether members of the same family should serve different senior administrative footballing posts.
Villar’s father is none other than Angel Maria Villar Llona, vice-president of both FIFA and UEFA and the long-serving head of the Spanish FA.
Villar Snr is considered one of the most conservative and anti-reformist of all leading FIFA officials. Not only that. As the head of Spain-Portugal bid for the 2018 World Cup, he is also understood to be one of those still possibly being investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee over the entire bid process amid alleged accusations of collusion and skulduggery.
As soon as it was drawn up, doubt was immediately cast on the make-up of the Reform Committee which primarily consists not of independent members (apart from its chairman Francois Carrard) but of individuals chosen by FIFA’s six confederations. Reports of the latest dispute concerning Gorka Villar will only add to those doubts.
It is understood that Domenico Scala, the Swiss-Italian who made public his own set of reform proposals last week and runs FIFA’s audit and compliance unit, is uncomfortable with the cosy relationship the Villars share at different confederations. Indeed, Scala is known to favour future rules that would strictly monitor family members taking up rival senior positions.
The latest dispute burst into the public arena after a Uruguayan newspaper reported the eight clubs’ allegation of threats by Villar unless they withdrew a complaint that CONMEBOL was withholding monies due to clubs, players and federations.
The other CONMEBOL representative on FIFA’s reform committee, ironically, is Wilmar Valdez, president of the Uruguayan federation, which makes the latest disclosures about Gorka Villar all the more awkward for both FIFA and the South American confederation which has just committed itself to widespread reform after several of its senior personnel were implicated in the corruption investigation orchestrated by the United States Department of Justice.
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