FIFA drops age-limit proposal from 2013 congress
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius: The FIFA executive committee dropped reform proposals yesterday to limit the age and terms for its officials from the congress this week, saying “no consensus” has been reached on the issues among its member countries and a “more thorough analysis is required.”
Following yesterday’s executive committee meeting chaired by President Sepp Blatter, FIFA said possible age and term limits would have to be “examined further” and the congress would be asked to put them back on the agenda for its 2014 annual meeting “with concrete proposals.”
The two-day congress in Mauritius opened Thursday with its 209 member associations set to vote on various reforms.
Next year’s congress will be in Sao Paolo, Brazil, ahead of the World Cup.
The 77-year-old Blatter had publicly opposed age limits for FIFA positions — in contrast to the International Olympic Committee — but the proposal was still expected to be put to member countries in Mauritius.
FIFA’s board also said it fully supports a resolution from its anti-racism task force and would ask the 2013 congress to vote on what are likely to be proposals for sterner punishments for those found guilty of racist abuse. These should include a mandatory ban of five games for any player found guilty of racism in a game. The five-game ban currently in force only applies to international football.
The task force, led by FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb, had been set up after the recent re-emergence of racism, especially in Italy.
Blatter criticized a fine imposed by Italian football authorities on Roma for its fans’ racist abuse of AC Milan players, claiming it wasn’t large enough. The congress may now be asked to vote on bringing in compulsory and stricter punishments for teams if their fans, players or officials are found guilty of discrimination.
FIFA also rejected a request by the Yemen Football Association that a ban be lifted on the country hosting friendly and international games, saying the suspension remains for security reasons.
The committee also appointed new South American football president Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay as the chairman of the 2014 World Cup organizing committee. Figueredo took over as head of CONMEBOL from Nicolas Leoz, who resigned citing ill health before a FIFA ethics court ruling found that he — along with ex-FIFA President Joao Havelange and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira — accepted bribes from the sport marketing company ISL in the 1990s.
Figueredo took Leoz’s place on FIFA’s executive committee and attended his first meeting yesterday, along with newly elected Asian Football Confederation President AFC President Sheik Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain and Sunil Gulati of the United States.