| ChangeFIFA | |
|---|---|
| Motto | "Give Football to the people" |
| Formation | June 2010 |
| Region served | Worldwide |
| Leader | David Larkin, Oliver Fowler |
| Website | http://changefifa.org/ |
ChangeFIFA is a campaign organisation, established in 2010 with the stated aim of making FIFA, the ruling body of world soccer, more "fair and accountable".[1]
Contents |
The organisation was created in June 2010 by English fan Oliver Fowler, a self-described "freelancer" and "football businessman".[2] It claims to be a strictly self-funded campaign. ChangeFIFA is currently run by Fowler and David Larkin, an American attorney based in Washington, DC.[3]
Oliver Fowler has outlined ChangeFIFA's objectives many times, in various articles.[4] The organisation's stated objectives are to to make FIFA "an organisation with a President and board voted in by the people who play, watch and love the game",[1] and in more detail:
ChangeFIFA's stated plan for reform is as follows:
ChangeFIFA is strictly a pressure group. Its aims, per the organisation's charter, are to be achieved through lobbying and, if possible, negotiations with the world soccer's ruling body itself.[1] They work through petition applications, lobbying, appearances in the media, and social networking.[5]
Joining forces with Change FIFA, Damian Collins, Conservative Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe and member of the House of Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has called for Sepp Blatter's re‑election as FIFA president to be suspended and a "reform agenda" to be introduced at football's ruling organisation.[6] The British MP called on "members of parliaments and national assemblies" around the world to help reform FIFA by applying political pressure on the organisation.[6]
The agenda calls for an independent commission to lead an inquiry into FIFA and then ensure that the organisation's proceedings become transparent and open to the public; that all FIFA member-associations be allowed to vote on "major decisions" (instead of these decisions being made by FIFA's 24-person Executive Committee); that all FIFA decisions, votes and actions be open to the public; and that FIFA's finances, in detail, become public.[6] The agenda also calls for the FIFA president not to serve more than two terms of office.
Major corporate sponsors of FIFA and the World Cup competition, such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Visa, have publicly called for "change in FIFA".[7]
In the wake of many fans' dissatisfaction at how the world football's ruling body is being run,[8] other challenges to the authority of the current FIFA leadership have sprung, such as the campaign staged by 37-year-old American journalist Grant Wahl.[9]
On 29 March 2011, ChangeFIFA endorsed former Chilean defender and for 3 years running South American Footballer of the Year Elias Figueroa[10] for the FIFA presidency in the 2011 elections and urged FIFA's member-associations to back Figueroa, who needed to be nominated by a national football federation. However, on 31 March 2011, Figueroa announced he had decided not to accept his nomination as candidate, because "in such a short period of time I could not develop a case worthy of the magnitude and importance of such a distinguished job".[11]
Eventually, in the 2011 elections, incumbent Joseph "Sepp" Platter, who has been FIFA president for 13 years, won a mandate for another 4-year term,[12] by a margin of 172 votes to 17, with 17 abstaining.[13]
Following the re-election of Sepp Blatter, Bayern Munich and European Club Association chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, called on FIFA to carry out "drastic change," stating that it was time for the organisation to "increase transparency and move towards greater democracy."[14]
There were renewed calls by many prominent footballers as well as by organisations, such as anti-racism group Kick It Out and the Professional Footballers' Association, for a change in FIFA's leadership in November 2011, following president Blatter's remarks about racism on the football field.[15] Sepp Blatter responded that his statements on the subject were "misunderstood."[15]
On December 2011, Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog that was advising FIFA after the media allegations for bribery and corruption,[16] cut its ties with world football's governing body, citing FIFA's ostensible refusal to accept the watchdog's recommendations. Transparency International had recommended that FIFA should not pay an expert to oversee its reforms, so as not to jeopardise the expert's independence, and also that FIFA re-examines "old scandals", but was ignored in both cases, as Transparency's spokesman stated.[17]
Because England lost its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, some people, including FIFA president Sepp Blatter who characterized the English as "bad losers",[18] have hinted that England's football authorities have engaged in a campaign to "take over" FIFA something the English FA has categorically denied.[19]
ChangeFIFA points out, in response, that it was created before England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup was rejected during FIFA's selection process, a process that began in 2009 and turned out to be highly controversial.