Football
9y

UEFA rejects actions of FIFA ExCo member Theo Zwanziger

VIENNA -- UEFA has distanced itself from FIFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger of Germany, who unsuccessfully filed an ethics violations complaint against the man who will replace him in May.

In an unusual move of publicly criticising one of its top officials, UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino said on Monday the governing body of European football "rejects fully the actions of Zwanziger. It's not understandable. There is no ground to do so."

Zwanziger, 69, asked for FIFA's ethics committee to investigate German football federation (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach for irregularities regarding his pay and pension, but FIFA cleared Niersbach of any wrongdoing 10 days ago.

Infantino told a news conference in Vienna: "We are clearly rejecting his [Zwanziger's] actions -- at the end of the all day it is embarrassing for him and sad for German football.

"The executive committee is really sad and upset about this situation and fully rejects the actions of Mr Zwanziger. For a (former) president of the German FA to make such a challenge with obviously no chance of success, this cannot be understood by anyone.

"Mr Zwanziger was elected by the UEFA congress four years ago and according to our statutes represents the European associations. But we have not seen him around in any of our meetings or committees for the last two years.

"When speaking about good governance, democracy and procedures, part of that should be to participate....and to accept decisions taken in an open, transparent and democratic way and not to get angry and upset."

Niersbach has led the German federation since Zwanziger was ousted in 2012. Zwanziger's four-year term on the FIFA executive committee ends in May.

Niersbach is unopposed for election to the seat by UEFA member federations on Tuesday.

^ Back to Top ^