Today, Friday March 30, 2012, the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) presented its first report to the Executive Committee of FIFA.

The IGC has been overseeing FIFA`s reform process since its constitution in December 2011. To prepare the report, the IGC, which consists in part of renowned governance experts and in part of football insiders with the necessary insight into the specific risks of a large sports organisation, had held five days of in-person meetings over a period of three months in addition several phone conferences and to reading hundreds of pages of documents relating both to FIFA`s governance structures as well as to allegations of past wrongdoings.

The IGC also held hearings with the responsible FIFA officials both to get a better understanding of how the finances within the organisation are controlled and to assess whether FIFA`s response to past allegations of wrongdoings was sufficient.

“I was really impressed with how quickly the group was able to focus on a common goal”, says Mark Pieth, Chairman of the IGC.

The presentation of the report to FIFA`s Executive Committee is an important step in the reform process before the report is put before Congress. The key recommendations that have been now presented to FIFA`s Executive Committee include:

• The IGC recommends that the remit of the Audit Committee be expanded to include the additional roles of a Compliance Committee as well as a Compensation Committee (new name: Audit & Compliance Committee). In the opinion of the IGC it is fundamental that the independent Chairs of the Nomination Committee and the Audit & Compliance Committee have a seat in the Executive Committee.
• The IGC believes that financial controls need to be strengthened. Furthermore, FIFA is in urgent need of streamlining its procedures on hosting of competitions, on marketing decisions and on development programs. A new Development Committee should see to it that development funding is awarded on a transparent and fair basis and follows a predefined strategy with all procedures fully documented.
• The ICG considers it absolutely fundamental to strengthen the Governance Structure of FIFA by insisting on transparency, accountability, professionalism and independence in key areas. It is thus fundamental that nominees for senior FIFA positions are vetted by an independent Nominations Committee, to be put in place as soon as possible, in order to ensure that candidates for the next elections fulfillthe necessary substantive criteria and ethical requirements and that the selection process is fair and transparent. (see full report for details).
• Regarding the past, the existing procedures are – in the opinion of the IGC and the relevant Task Force – insufficient to meet the challenges of a major global sport governing body. This has led to unsatisfactory reactions to persistent allegations. In particular, the IGC has identified a lack of proactive and systematic investigation of allegations. In some instances, allegations were insufficiently investigated and where sanctions were imposed, they are at times insufficient and clearly unconvincing. The IGC recommends that the most important proposals made by the Task Force Ethics Committee be implemented as soon as possible: especially the separation of an investigatory and an adjudicatory chamber as well as the right of the investigatory chamber to set procedures in motion proprio motu, i.e. the independent ability of the Ethics Committee to initiate investigations. The IGC strongly recommends that the Chairs and the Deputy Chairs of the judicial bodies be staffed as soon as possible by truly independent persons of high standing and expertise.