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Mixed messages at FIFA's first African congress [Tue Sep 13th, 2005]
Marrakech, Morocco (Reuters) - The establishment of a task force with the power to tackle serious problems in football was overwhelmingly approved by delegates at the 55th FIFA Congress.
The new body, to be known as the "For the Good of the Game Task Force" has been created as FIFA becomes increasingly concerned about issues such as multi-club ownership, corruption, betting and bribery and the continued interference by some governments in the running of football in their countries.
The first Congress on African soil in FIFA's 101-year history was one with mixed messages.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter at first enthused on football's contribution towards trying to make the world a better place then listed a series of serious ills threatening the game, ending with the unresolved problem of FIFA's relationship with WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Evoking popular Moroccan images, Blatter summed up the day to journalists later when he said: "It's not all mint tea and rose petals, football has a lot of problems to tackle."
INCREASING DANGERS
In his address, Blatter told delegates that although there were many positive aspects and encouraging developments in football, there were also increasing dangers which is why the establishment of the task force was necessary. It was approved by a vote of 198-1.
"We need to counter these risks. We need to be aware of these dangers. Where there is smoke there is fire and we need to put out the fires," he said.
Without naming the organisation directly he harshly criticised the G14, the group of elite European clubs.
"There is a movement in club football, which I don't necessarily consider a prime example of solidarity, because it leads us to conclude the rich are getting richer and they are using everything in the market to create an exodus from Africa," he said.
"The gap is getting wider and wider. This is a problem you should be concerned about," he told delegates.
He also highlighted areas of non-compliance with FIFA statutes, including clubs taking football-related problems to civil courts.
"We have been accused of all sorts of things, for example, in the fight against doping, when we were the ones who made headway first.
"We have been accused of other things and books will be published about football being destructive and evil. Perhaps we need to be more careful and pay more attention."
But, he said, the time had come for FIFA to rise to the challenges that threaten the organisation.
It is planned that the Task Force will report directly to the executive committee and one of the strategies to be used by the new body will be to set up an early warning system to detect irregular betting patterns on matches.
MATCH-FIXING
The Task Force is expected to work with police and other enforcement agencies to detect and prosecute those involved in trying to fix matches.
FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA are becoming increasingly concerned about rich individuals owning more than one club and their possible involvement in irregular transfer deals.
A proposal from the Swiss Football Association to reduce the age by which a player could transfer his nationality from 21 to 18 was withdrawn because of stiff opposition behind the scenes from African delegates.
FIFA admitted East Timor and the African island nation of Comoros into the body to boost its membership to 207, although Yemen was suspended because of government interference in the running of its football association.
General Secretary Urs Linsi reported that FIFA had an operating budget of 740 million Swiss francs (US$591 million) with expenses amounting to 582 million Swiss francs (US$465 million) last year.
Next year's operating budget will be higher at 793 million Swiss francs (US$633 million) as it is a World Cup year.
The Congress ended with a warning from Blatter regarding the ongoing unresolved issue with WADA over doping.
Blatter insisted that FIFA was a world leader in the fight against doping in sport and had amended its statutes to comply with WADA's anti-doping code.
However, FIFA does not subscribe to a mandatory two-year ban for first offenders and this issue could well end with FIFA and WADA facing each other across the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Lausanne in the future.
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