KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: The shape of the reorganised committee structure at world football federation FIFA has been unveiled.
The central standing committees have been reduced from the 26 of disgraced Sepp Blatter’s regime to nine under Gianni Infantino who was elected to take over the presidency last February.
Most notable ‘name’ appointed to a major role is that of Pierluigi Collina, the Italian former World Cup referee and who had been head of match officials at European federation UEFA while Infantino was general secretary.
One of Collina’s last duties at UEFA was to ensure the elision of both goal-line assistants and goal-line technology at the European Championship finals in France last summer.
In the past members of the executive committee had been scattered all around the standing committees. Under Infantino’s system, however, comparatively few members of the expanded FIFA Council have been allotted to the committees.
However five of the presidents of the six regional confederations have been appointed as committee chairman. These are:
Development: Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (AFC [Asia], Bahrain);
Finance: Alejandro Dominguez (CONMEBOL [S America], Paraguay);
Football stakeholders: Victor Montagliani (CONCACAF (central/north America], Canada);
Associations: Issa Hayatou (CAF [Africa], Cameroon); and
Organising Committee for FIFA competitions: Aleksander Ceferin (UEFA [Europe], Slovenia).
The one confederation president without a chairmanship is Oceania’s David Chung, from Papua New Guinea. His ‘consolation’ is an appointment as deputy chairman of the competitions organising committee.
The heads of the confederations also make up, with Infantino, what is called the ‘FIFA bureau’ which has become, in effect, the new executive committee.
One other notable point is the apparent downgrading of Cameroon’s African confederation president Issa Hayatou. He is FIFA’s senior vice-president and had been head of the all-important finance committee after the death of Argentina’s Julio Grondona in the summer of 2014.
Heading the finance committee now is Paraguayan Alejandro Dominguez, the latest president of South America’s CONMEBOL.
FIFA hopes that Dominguez has no skeletons in his cupboard after the last three CONMEBOL leaders (Nicolas Leoz [Paraguay], Eugenio Figueredo [Uruguay] and Juan Angel Napout [Paraguay]) all ended up being indicted by the United States Department of Justice in its FIFAGate corruption investigation.
As far as the composition of the committees is concerned, a FIFA statement has made the point that the new members “have been appointed by the Council on the proposal of the members associations . . . and have passed a compulsory eligibility check carried out by the review committee.
The eligibility of the governance committee members was checked by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee.
FIFA added: “The governance, finance and development committees include at least 50pc of members who fulfil the independence criteria listed in the FIFA Governance Regulations.”
The standing committees:
Development Committee
CHAIRMAN
AL KHALIFA Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim
Bahrain
DEPUTY CHAIRWOMAN
NSEKERA Lydia
Burundi
MEMBERS
LABRADOR Eric
Puerto Rico
ZHANG Jian
China PR
HAMM Mia
USA
BEYALA Sophie
Cameroon
CLARKE Greg
England
CUBILLAS Teofilo
Peru
MALINZI Jamal
Tanzania
MALTOCK Lambert
Vanuatu
MIHAYLOV Borislav
Bulgaria
RAZAFITRIMO Arisoa
Madagascar
SALAH Arturo
Chile
SANGARE Sita
Burkina Faso
SMITH Andy
New Zealand
TEGMO-REDDY Leyla
Turkey
YORKE Dwight
Trinidad and Tobago
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Finance Committee
CHAIRMAN
DOMINGUEZ Alejandro
Paraguay
DEPUTY CHAIRWOMAN
FRUEAN Sandra
American Samoa
MEMBERS
BICKERTON Andrew
British Virgin Islands
WITTMAN Vanessa
USA
CAMARA Mariam
Mali
CSANYI Sandor
Hungary
PATEL Praful
India
RAOURAOUA Mohamed
Algeria
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Football Stakeholders Committee
CHAIRMAN
MONTAGLIANI Victor
Canada
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
CHRISTILLIN Evelina
Italy
MEMBERS
AL HARBI Ahmed Eid
Saudi Arabia
BARNES Bobby
England
CAFU
Brazil
CORDEIRO Carlos
USA
DE MARIA Decio
Mexico
D ONOFRIO Rodolfo
Argentina
GANDINI Umberto
Italy
GAZIDIS Ivan
England
GOMES Fernando
Portugal
LOPEZ JIMENEZ Pedro
Spain
MURAI Mitsuru
Japan
OLAND Mads
Denmark
PIAT Philippe
France
SCHAEFER Claudius
Switzerland
SCUDAMORE Richard
England
SEIFERT Christian
Germany
SHOR Augustin
Senegal
SHAW Deryck
New Zealand
VAN DER SAR Edwin
Netherlands
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Governance Committee and Review Committee
CHAIRMAN
POIARES MADURO Miguel
Portugal
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
MUDGAL Mukul
India
MEMBERS
CANTUARIAS Felipe
Peru
CAMACHO DE TORREBIARTE Adela
Guatemala
GRINDEL Reinhard
Germany
LEKJAA Fouzi
Morocco
PILLAY Navi
South Africa
POPPER Ron
Switzerland
WEILER Joseph
USA
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Medical Committee
CHAIRMAN
D HOOGHE Michel
Belgium
MEMBERS
SINGH Gurcharan
Malaysia
AHMED Hosny Abdelrahman
Egypt
DOHI Michiko
Japan
CHIAMPAS George
USA
FORSSBLAD Magnus
Sweden
HERRERO Maria
Spain
KABUNGO Joseph
Zambia
MARTINEZ Gerinaldo
Panama
VILLANI Donato
Argentina
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Associations Committee
CHAIRMAN
HAYATOU Issa
Cameroon
DEPUTY CHAIRWOMAN
BIEN AIME Sonia
Turks and Caicos Islands
MEMBERS
KOUTSOKOUMNIS Costakis
Cyprus
GILLIERON Peter
Switzerland
SEALEY Anton
Bahamas
SOLOMONA Laupama
Samoa
AHMAD Ahmad
Madagascar
AKHTER Mahfuza
Bangladesh
AL WAHAIBI Sheikh Salem Said Salem
Oman
ARANETA Mariano
Philippines
CRISTINZIANO Carolina
Argentina
DIJKHOFF Richard
Aruba
HAN Un Gyong
Korea DPR
HENRIQUES Brigitte
France
JOHANSEN Isha
Sierra Leone
LAIGLE Steeve
New Caledonia
THORSTEINSSON Geir
Iceland
YARDIMCI Servet
Turkey
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Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions
CHAIRMAN
CEFERIN Aleksander
Slovenia
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
CHUNG David
Papua New Guinea
DEPUTY CHAIRWOMAN
MUNOZ Maria Sol
Ecuador
MEMBERS
AL KHALIFA Shk. Ali Bin Khalifa
Bahrain
ARIIOTIMA Henri
Tahiti
BOLKIAH Sufri
Brunei Darussalam
CHRISTENSEN Jesper Moller
Denmark
CROOKS Charmaine
Canada
DESTOMBES Sue
South Africa
GJORGJIOSKI Ilcho
FYR Macedonia
HARRISON Robert
Paraguay
PINNICK Amaju
Nigeria
REI Anne
Estonia
SHALABI-MOLANO Susan
Palestine
SUKER Davor
Croatia
SUN Wen
China PR
TAJ Mehdi
Iran
TINOCO Rafael
Guatemala
WABERI Souleiman Hassan
Djibouti
ZANETTI Javier
Argentina
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Players’ Status Committee
CHAIRMAN
HACK Raymond
South Africa
MEMBERS
REVILLA Fernando
Peru
VAN GAALEN Johan
South Africa
ABEGA Prosper
Cameroon
AL JABER Sami
Saudi Arabia
CRUZ Jose Maria
Spain
DELLER Michel
Ecuador
DODD Moya
Australia
EVERARD Louis
Netherlands
GALLAVOTTI Mario
Italy
GROSSO Leonardo
Italy
GUIMARAES Castelar
Brazil
HEUSLER Bernhard
Switzerland
JOHN-WILLIAMS David
Trinidad and Tobago
LAI William
Solomon Islands
LAMBRECHT Wouter
Belgium
LIU Yongzhou
China PR
PENICHE Anna
Mexico
ROBERTS Jason
Grenada
SCOTT-HOWMAN Andrew
New Zealand
SOUARE Antonio
Guinea
THOMSEN Claus
Denmark
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Referees’ Committee
CHAIRMAN
COLLINA Pierluigi
Italy
MEMBERS
ANDINO Amelio
Paraguay
DAMKOVA Dagmar
Czech Republic
HALL Brian
USA
MAIDIN Shamsul
Singapore
MAILLET Eddy
Seychelles
POLOSO Neil
Solomon Islands
SENEME Wilson
Brazil
STOLTENKAMP Kevin
New Zealand
TALEB BALAN Hani
Qatar
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