ZURICH: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has set out an expansion of the governing executive committee among his ideas for a progressive way forward writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Writing in FIFA Weekly, Blatter returned to an old theme of his concerning the make-up of the exco. Currently the regional split sees UEFA hold the most seats – eight representing 53 FIFA members – though, as Blatter pointed out, the largest confederation is Africa with 54 members.

Looking ahead to the elective congress which will choose a new president, possibly in December, Blatter stressed a simultaneously need to “strengthen democracy within the ‘FIFA government’.”

That CAF and the Asian confederation “only have five and four delegates respectively in the 25-person FIFA executive is contradictory to this notion of democracy.”

Blatter also noted that women were under-represented in the exco with one member and two co-opted members. He noted: “World football’s governing body is not a ‘men-only club’. Approximately 50pc of the 450 employees at the Home of FIFA are women.”

German proposal

Diplomatically Blatter conceded that it would be a mistake to try to remove exco seats hence the need for “a commensurate expansion of this body.”

He also endorsed a recent proposal from German federation president Wolfgang Niersbach for an independent integrity check for members of the main FIFA Committees.

Blatter added: “[This] message must apply to everyone: only together can we continue to drive the process of reform forward. That is something I will stand for until my final day in office.”

Two years ago European federation UEFA blocked a proposal for FIFA integrity checks on the grounds that such a process was the responsibility of the confedrations which send delegates to FIFA.

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