IOC boss Bach would welcome Fifa reforms

VIENNA, Oct 5, 2015 (AFP) -International Olympic Committee boss Thomas Bach would welcome FIFA following the I OC example by undertaking far-reaching reforms, as Sepp Blatter faces fresh calls to resign as president of football’s governing body, he said on Monday.

“The IOC carried out reforms in many areas 15 years ago,” I OC president Bach told the Camp Beckenbauer sports conference in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

“If another sports organisation wants to do the same, we wouldn’t mind and we’d even welcome it,” he added drily.

The German was referring t o t he 1998 bribery scandal which rocked the IOC after Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics and acted as a catalyst in forcing wholesale changes to the organisation with some IOC members expelled.

Bach’s comments came after four of FIFA’s main sponsors called for Sepp Blatter to resign as president on Friday with the 79-year-old Swiss up for re-election next February.

The crisis in world football began in May, when nine FIFA officials and five sports marketing executives were charged by the US Justice Department over bribery offences worth more than $150 million dating back to 1991.

But Bach stopped short at criticising either FIFA or Blatter: “I will not judge any person or other organisation here,” he said.