By Andrew Warshaw
July 22 – Domenico Scala, the no-nonsense and increasingly influential Swiss-Italian who has been at the forefront of pushing for meaningful change at FIFA, has emerged as the favourite to lead the newly established body charged with implementing concrete, lasting reform in the post-Sepp Blatter era.
Insideworldfootball has learned that Scala, independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee and the man who submitted specific reform proposals to FIFA’s executive committee on Monday, has personally met with three confederation presidents, including UEFA’s Michel Platini, and has been asked to carry out the task of cleaning up football’s world governing body after years of scandal and corruption.
Platini is expected to formally announce in the coming days that he wants to take over from Blatter.
The announcement of an 11-member reform Task Force, comprising 10 officials from the confederations plus a neutral chairman, was made at Monday’s press conference that followed the first FIFA executive committee meeting since Blatter announced he was stepping down after what will be almost 18 years in charge.
Specific reform measures include term limits for senior FIFA officials, disclosure of salaries and integrity checks for exco members – the equivalent to a football-style fit and proper persons test. They are expected to come into force on February 26, the day Blatter is replaced, if approved by FIFA’s 209 member nations at an extraordinary congress.
Although the confederations have yet to name their individual representatives on the new body, having Scala as its head should ensure there is no fudging of the proposals and that FIFA enters a new era of transparency.
Tellingly, Scala was present when Blatter dramatically announced on June 2 he would “lay down his mandate” and spoke that day of how Blatter’s decision had “created an opportunity for us to go further than FIFA has before – to fundamentally change the way in which FIFA is structured.”
“Nothing will be off the table, including the structure and composition of the executive committee and the way in which members of the executive committee are elected,” Scala added at the time. “These steps will ensure that the organisation cannot be used by those seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of the game.”
Scala is known to favour two terms and a maximum of 12 years for FIFA officials, including the president, and is also understood to be keen to put in place eligibility rules for future exco members. He also wants to make sure future World Cup bidders abide by new rules forbidding them from funding overseas development programmes in an attempt to put an end to the kind of vote-trading shenanigans that have plagued recent ballots.
Rumours that Blatter’s personal preference to lead the Task Force was for African football leader Issa Hayatou over Scala have not been confirmed. But the Cameroon powerbroker would probably not have been eligible anyway since he could not have fallen into the category of neutral.
Similar reform proposals were proposed four years ago as part of a package presented by Swiss governance guru Mark Pieth but were rejected. However, the landscape at FIFA has changed dramatically as a result of the two separate ongoing FBI and Swiss investigations into racketeering and corruption, the former having already snared a number of regional high-ranking FIFA powerbrokers.
Although the idea of the confederations and in turn national federations themselves incorporating the changes might appear a sure failure given various vested interests, no longer can the FIFA administration afford to preserve the status quo.
InsideWorldFootball has learned that exco members were warned on Monday by more than one lawyer advising FIFA that serious reform was now critical in order to show the US authorities that a genuine clean-up process was under way.
Scala, whose direct approach and attention to detail is renowned, would certainly not allow any foot-dragging. He is understood to have been assured that all six confederations, not just the three he has spoken to, would like him to consider the position.
He is now believed to be weighing up whether he has time to do the job in addition to his duties as head of the audit and compliance committee as well as chairman of the three-man electoral committee that is supervising the process of succeeding Blatter.
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