WHY CHANGE?
Players and fans have had enough of FIFA in its current form. We believe players and fans hate seeing the sport they love continually tarnished by scandal, distrust and cynicism.
A new and alternative approach is required to how world football is managed.
FIFA officials like to say that FIFA is a reformed organisation, yet time-after-time, expert-after-expert, people have tried and failed to bring change to FIFA. Those who have tried, and who have given up, include Judge Gunther Hirsch, Professor Mark Pieth, Sylvia Schenck, Alexandra Wrage and Michael J Garcia.
We consider it’s time for FIFA in its current form to go.
Even with the injection of so-called ‘new blood’ and the expansion of the FIFA Council, nothing has changed and nothing will change while those who have been part of the ‘FIFA Way’ for decades are still around, and reform does not happen in at least the majority of the 211 member associations of FIFA.
New FIFA Now involves a coalition of people drawn from fans, players, sponsors and non-sponsors and government who believe that something has to be done. It has grown out of FIFA’s publication in November 2014 of a report into the conduct of the 2018/2022 World Cup bids by the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
The report was purported to be a summary of a 21-month investigation by Chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, Michael J Garcia, into the conduct of the 2018/2022 World Cup tournaments. Those tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. Amongst other things:
Within hours of the summary report being published, Michael Garcia distanced himself from it saying that there were numerous omissions, and errors of fact and interpretation. In December 2014, frustrated by FIFA, he resigned from his role as Chair of the Ethics Committee.
Despite the work of Transparency International and governance expert Professor Mark Pieth, the establishment of a new Ethics Committee and other measures, reform of governance arrangements to achieve democracy, transparency and accountability is the number one issue in world football.
Continuing allegations about, and the decisions made by, FIFA as well as the decision-making process do not fill fans, players, sponsors, governments or media with any confidence in FIFA’s willingness to change or their capacity for change.
Football deserves better.
The forgotten stakeholders of the game – players and fans – deserve better.
A new and alternative approach is required to how world football is managed.
FIFA officials like to say that FIFA is a reformed organisation, yet time-after-time, expert-after-expert, people have tried and failed to bring change to FIFA. Those who have tried, and who have given up, include Judge Gunther Hirsch, Professor Mark Pieth, Sylvia Schenck, Alexandra Wrage and Michael J Garcia.
We consider it’s time for FIFA in its current form to go.
Even with the injection of so-called ‘new blood’ and the expansion of the FIFA Council, nothing has changed and nothing will change while those who have been part of the ‘FIFA Way’ for decades are still around, and reform does not happen in at least the majority of the 211 member associations of FIFA.
New FIFA Now involves a coalition of people drawn from fans, players, sponsors and non-sponsors and government who believe that something has to be done. It has grown out of FIFA’s publication in November 2014 of a report into the conduct of the 2018/2022 World Cup bids by the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
The report was purported to be a summary of a 21-month investigation by Chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, Michael J Garcia, into the conduct of the 2018/2022 World Cup tournaments. Those tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. Amongst other things:
- the summary report concluded that, despite inappropriate conduct by some bidders, there was no action that interfered with the “integrity of the bidding process”;
- Russia claimed they had “lost” their emails as they had thrown out their computers but no finding – adverse or otherwise – was made against them;
- Spain refused to cooperate at all and no finding – adverse or otherwise – was made against them. FIFA Executive Committee member and head of the Spanish bid team, Angel Maria Villar Llona was given a light rap over the knuckles by the Ethics Committee in November 2015 because of his non-cooperation;
- Eckert singled-out two whistleblowers – from the winning Qatar and losing Australian bids who were easily identifiable – as “unreliable” despite presenting, and accepting, most of the information and evidence they produced.
Within hours of the summary report being published, Michael Garcia distanced himself from it saying that there were numerous omissions, and errors of fact and interpretation. In December 2014, frustrated by FIFA, he resigned from his role as Chair of the Ethics Committee.
Despite the work of Transparency International and governance expert Professor Mark Pieth, the establishment of a new Ethics Committee and other measures, reform of governance arrangements to achieve democracy, transparency and accountability is the number one issue in world football.
Continuing allegations about, and the decisions made by, FIFA as well as the decision-making process do not fill fans, players, sponsors, governments or media with any confidence in FIFA’s willingness to change or their capacity for change.
Football deserves better.
The forgotten stakeholders of the game – players and fans – deserve better.