Fifa sponsor Coca-Cola has told world football’s governing body that it wants an independent third-party commission to oversee reform of the crisis-hit organization.
On July 9, the American drinks giant formally requested that FIFA’s leadership support the idea.
It wants the commission to be overseen by what it described as “one or more eminent impartial leaders to manage the efforts necessary to help reform Fifa’s governance and its human rights requirements”.
In a correspondence, Coca-Cola says: “We believe that establishing this independent commission will be the most credible way for Fifa to approach its reform process and is necessary to build back the trust it has lost. We are calling for this approach out of our deep commitment to ethics and human rights and in the interest of seeing Fifa succeed.”
The move will put pressure on Fifa’s outgoing president Sepp Blatter who will discuss his preferred reform programme with the body’s executive committee on Monday.
Blatter is expected to propose a number of reforms designed to repair FIFA’s battered reputation.
These include term limits for members of the executive committee and the president, as well as full salary disclosure for senior officials.
However critics of Fifa have argued that it is so discredited that reform should be taken out of the body’s control, and will be encouraged by Coca-Cola’s move.
