By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – Domenico Scala, head of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, part of whose job has been to police financial wrongdoing, has praised the reform programme announced Thursday but says a complete culture change is needed to ensure it is successfully implemented.
It was Scala’s own blueprint that formed the basis of Francois Carrard’s package for change that will now be submitted to the FIFA Congress in February for adoption, with age limits no longer on the table and replaced by robust term limits of a maximum 12 years, the powers of the president reduced and the executive committee scrapped.
“The package is good step forward even if it doesn’t address everything,” said Scala. “But systems, processes, governance, compliance programmes, while they need to be done, can only be done with a culture change. That requires a change in behaviour by people in leading positions and the future president will have a critical role in this regard.”
Scala says that despite the recent wave of indictments announced in the United States, FIFA can still look to the future with optimism and is not too rotten to rescue.
“There is no doubt we have had significant disruption in CONCACAF and CONMEBOL and that therefore FIFA has been damaged. FIFA needs to take into account that the behaviour of its executives in the confederations and national federations has a direct impact,” said Scala. “Which is why the reforms need to make sure the problems get addressed at the root cause.”
In a conference call, Scala said he supported the decision to defer whether or not to increase the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams, a reform measure that was not in his own original paper. “I think the exco acted very responsibly by saying yes to the reforms but that the World Cup was a separate topic. What the time line will be I don’t know.”
Suggestions have been in some quarters that Scala has ambitions to become the next FIFA general secretary but he insists this is wide of the mark. “I can confirm I have no intention of taking an executive role,” he said.
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