Football
PA Sport 9y

FIFA announce reform committee to meet for first time next month

FIFA has announced its reform committee will convene for the first time in a two-day session in Switzerland next month.

Headed by Swiss lawyer Francois Carrard, who was named the committee's chairman on August 11, the new body will over the coming months compile a series of proposals to be voted on at the FIFA extraordinary congress in February 2016.

It will be at the same congress next year that a successor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter is determined by a vote.

FIFA said on Thursday that Carrard had confirmed the dates of the first meeting.

Football's world governing body quoted Carrard as saying: "The first meeting of the 2016 FIFA reform committee will be held in the Swiss capital of Berne on 2-3 September 2015. No further comments on the meeting will be provided at this time."

Carrard is highly experienced in such operations, having led the reform programme at the International Olympic Committee in the wake of its cash-for-votes Salt Lake City scandal which came to light in the late 1990s. He was director general of the IOC from 1989 to 2003.

Blatter will stand down in February amid two separate corruption inquiries related to the administration of football's world governing body.

Seven FIFA officials were arrested in a dawn raid at a hotel in Zurich on May 27 after warrants were issued by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to charges of corruption.

In total, the American authorities have indicted 18 people as part of their investigation. Four of those people have pleaded guilty to corruption charges, including former FIFA executive member Chuck Blazer who has admitted taking a bribe to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.

Swiss authorities are also conducting a separate inquiry into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Blatter had not been arrested and has stressed he has a clean conscience, saying last month he would accept no responsibility for the alleged behaviour of others at FIFA.

FIFA is determined to persuade all doubters its future will be as an organisation with the utmost integrity.

Its sponsors have raised concerns following recent revelations and allegations, wary of being associated with an organisation that makes news for the wrong reasons.

FIFA announced it had met with a number of key sponsors on Thursday to address such issues.

"FIFA met with its commercial affiliates AB InBev, adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa at the Home of FIFA to discuss current matters," FIFA said in a statement.

"During the meeting, FIFA reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, reform, and collaboration with its valued partners."

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke last month admitted the corruption scandal is deterring new World Cup sponsors from signing up.

Before the reform committee was put in place, Visa chief executive Charlie Scharf said FIFA's response to the corruption crisis had been "wholly inadequate."

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