After two years as the external supporting and supervisory body of FIFA’s governance reform, the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) chaired by Prof. Mark Pieth will step down from its position by the end of 2013. The IGC was set up as a temporary body with the goal of overseeing the creation of a framework of good governance and controls for FIFA.

After several of IGC’s key recommendations have been adopted by the FIFA’s 62nd Congress in 2012 and its 63rd Congress in 2013, the focus is now on implementation. In November 2013, the ICG will conduct its final meeting to evaluate the measures and actions taken by FIFA since its last Congress. From 2014 on, the new governance structures and bodies within FIFA will manage the task of overseeing and implementing good governance practices within FIFA independently. During its two-year-tenure, the IGC has reached several important milestones. It gained approval for the following reform recommendations:

• The Ethics Committee has been divided into an investigatory and an adjudicatory chamber chaired by an independent judge, Mr. Joachim Eckert, and an independent investigator, Mr. Michael Garcia.
• The responsibilities of the Ethics Committee have been expanded to allow independent investigations into past and current allegations of wrongdoing. The required resources to conduct investigations with internal or external support have been made available. As a result, the first investigations have been concluded and in cases of actual misconduct, the offenders have been sanctioned.
• A new Code of Ethics that describes the rules of conduct and expected behaviour more clearly than before has been adopted. Historically problematic areas within the organisation, such as conflict of interest, gifts and other benefits, bribery and corruption, have been addressed with an approach that takes the economic success and complex governance structure of FIFA into account.
• The Audit & Compliance Committee has been revised in its structure and functions and is now chaired by an experienced professional without any previous link to FIFA, Mr. Domenico Scala. The Audit & Compliance Committee has also been trusted with the additional responsibilities for the Compliance Program as well as for Compensation & Benefits.
• A confidential reporting mechanism (whistleblower hotline) has been activated in February 2013.  
• Integrity checks for key officials have been approved; the implementation to fulfil best practice standards still needs to be worked out.  
• The independent chairpersons and deputies of both chambers of the Ethics Committee and the chairperson and deputy of the Audit & Compliance Committee were elected.

Other ICG recommendations, such as the decision to set up age and term limits for key positions in the governance structure were seriously discussed but unfortunately postponed to the next FIFA Congress in 2014.

The IGC has initiated wider-reaching reforms than ever in the history of FIFA. It is now up to the international football organisation to change its culture and to truly fill these reforms with life so that the organisation’s integrity is ensured and trust and confidence amongst all FIFA stakeholders, including fans and the wider public, is restored.

As in any organisation that has experienced a difficult period of scandal and introspection, it is important that the stakeholders of FIFA, including the media, continue to focus, through oversight, on the reform process. Reputation cannot be restored by policies, procedures, new structures, and words. Committed leadership must demonstrate, through deeds, that the culture of the organisation has changed from those years where compliance and governance were not high priorities.