SOCCER-FIFA/ARRIVALS FIFA members arrive for executive committee meeting

Record ID: 135512

  • Title: SOCCER-FIFA/ARRIVALS FIFA members arrive for executive committee meeting
  • Date: 20th October 2015
  • Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 20, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** STREET OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE TO THE HOME OF FIFA / FLAGS OUTSIDE FIFA AND MEDIA STANDING BY SIGN SIGN, READING: "FIFA" ACTING FIFA PRESIDENT, ISSA HAYATOU, ARRIVING AT FIFA (NOT SEEN CLEARLY THROUGH DARKENED GLASS) SECURITY GUARD WATCHING ON VARIOUS OF FIFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACE79NL86RCKCEYGM4A6L4DW8K
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART QUALITY AS INCOMING / SOME VIDEO SHOT ON MOBILE PHONE
    FIFA's executive committee met for an emergency meeting on Tuesday (October 20),
    Acting FIFA president Issa Hayatou was leading it, as elected president Sepp Blatter has been suspended by the FIFA's ethics committee.
    The Exco is expected to talk about reforms for FIFA, engulfed by a deepening corruption scandal with criminal investigations in Switzerland and the United States.
    FIFA did not say what it will be discussing but one topic could be delaying the election of its next president, a move that could give UEFA president Michel Platini more time to appeal against his 90-day suspension.
    FIFA's executive committee is the only body with the power to delay the vote, currently scheduled for February 26. Last week, UEFA said it did not want the election to be delayed. Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, another presidential candidate, echoed that sentiment.
    Both Blatter and Platini insist they have done nothing wrong and are appealing against the suspensions.
    Platini had been seen as a favorite to win the vote to replace Blatter as FIFA president. But his 90-day ban, together with a possible 45-day extension and the length of any appeals process, was seen as a major obstacle to his campaign.
    As it stands, the nominations to replace Blatter need to be provided by Oct. 26 and prospective candidates need to pass an integrity check based on FIFA's Ethics code.
    Unless he were to be given a swift appeal victory, Platini, who delivered his nomination papers just hours before his ban, would find himself in the difficult position of trying to pass that test while banned from the game.
    But a change in the date of the vote could see the entire timetable of the election change and allow the opportunity for Platini, or other candidates, to enter the race once the ethics situation is clearer.
    Another presidential candidate, South Korea's Chung Mong-joon, was banned for six years, meaning he will almost certainly miss out.
    Prince Ali is the only remaining high-profile candidate along with an outsider, former Brazil international Zico.
    Platini's ban relates to a 2 million Swiss francs payment he received from FIFA in 2011, which is part of a Swiss criminal inquiry into Blatter.
    Switzerland's Attorney General said Platini is being considered somewhere "between a witness and an accused person" in the case.
    Another cloud over FIFA at the moment is the news that Frankfurt's state prosecutor will look into bribery allegations concerning the 2006 soccer World Cup after a magazine report suggested a slush fund had been used to buy votes for the German bid in 2000.
    Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday (October 16) that Germany's bid committee had tapped into a slush fund of 6.7 million euros to buy votes at world soccer's governing body FIFA.
    Franz Beckenbauer, head of the 2006 organising committee, and Wolfgang Niersbach, the current president of the German Football Association (DFB) and FIFA executive committee member, who was a vice president of the committee, together with the DFB have vehemently rejected the allegations as 'groundless' and have said the magazine had provided no evidence to back up its claims.
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