ZURICH, (Reuters) – Scandal-plagued FIFA have turned to the man who helped the International Olympic Committee (IOC) out of their corruption crisis, appointing Swiss Francois Carrard as chairman of their reform committee.
The 77-year-old is the former director general of the IOC and was commissioner of the Olympic body’s reform commission following the vote for the 2002 Winter Olympics, won by Salt Lake City.
The new FIFA committee was originally announced as a ‘task force’ of 11 members but has been expanded to 15 with Carrard, two members from each of the six continental football confederations plus two members to be appointed by FIFA’s commercial partners.
FIFA’s corruption troubles came to a head in May when U.S. prosecutors indicted nine soccer officials, most of whom had FIFA positions, and five marketing and broadcasting company executives over a range of alleged offences, including fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.
“I think this is a very big crisis, it is somehow comparable to what I experienced with the IOC,” Carrard told reporters on a conference call.
“There are accusations of corruption against certain leaders, there are structural reforms which are badly needed. There is the interference of the political world, of the sponsors who are very unhappy, we had similar situations with the IOC at the time. And there is the interference of the justice… it is a very, very serious crisis,” he said.
