FIFA finances under scrutiny

Opponents of FIFA president Sepp Blatter scored a potentially significant victory, last night, when they won their fight to set up a special internal committee to investigate the finances of football’s world governing body.

The decision was taken after an emergency meeting of FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich which lasted almost three-and-a-half hours.

The investigating committee will be set up to look into the state of FIFA’s current finances and the handling of the collapse of former marketing partners ISL last year.

It may also look into allegations that supporters of Blatter paid cash for votes before his 1998 election.

FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen emerged from the meeting to read a statement. He said: ‘‘After a very long meeting the FIFA executive committee have decided to create an internal ad-hoc audit committee. Full details about the committee will be given on the occasion of the press conference on Saturday morning.’’

The crucial issue remains the make-up of the committee - whether the majority are supporters of the president, opponents or independent.

That decision will be made today, but it has already been agreed the investigating committee will be able to include independent experts and, more importantly, will not include any members of the FIFA finance committee which, yesterday, came out in support of Blatter.

What is certain is that this outcome represents a blow for Blatter, who has been resisting the creation of such a committee and agreed to hold the emergency meeting only under pressure from the majority of the 24-member executive.

Lennart Johansson, UEFA president and a FIFA vice-president, has been one of Blatter’s fiercest critics. He emerged from the meeting and would say only: ‘‘It was a good meeting. I am satisfied.’’

The bankruptcy of ISL, a subsidiary of the International Sports Media and Marketing group which negotiated FIFA’s television and sponsorship deals, led to the cancellation of last year’s World Club Championship in Spain and forced FIFA to set up its own in-house marketing unit.

Blatter insists the collapse cost FIFA around £22 million, but there have been claims the true damage could be as much as 10 times that. Of the 24 members of the FIFA executive, three vice-presidents - Johansson, Cameroon’s Issa Hayatou and Korea’s Chung Mong-joon have been strong critics of Blatter.

FIFA’s Scottish vice-president David Will, meanwhile, was among the 13 calling for an emergency meeting.

Blatter was able to persuade Spain’s Angel Maria Villar Llona to switch camps, last night. But Costa Rican Isaac Sasso Sasso, another of his supporters, missed last night’s meeting because of illness.

The 65-year-old Swiss lawyer stands for re-election as president at the end of May. He is so far unopposed, but Hayatou has hinted he may stand.

Meanwhile, the use of X-rays to determine the real age of players will be one of a range of subjects discussed at a two-day meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee. The world’s governing body is looking for ways to stop cheating in age-controlled football competitions and would examine players’ wrists if the proposal was adopted, explained FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper.

He pointed out, however, that the X-ray examinations may not be able to determine age with the same accuracy as that required by the rules.

FIFA’s debate on X-ray technology will follow progress reports made to the committee on the 2002 World Cup finals, the 2003 Women’s World Cup in China and the 2004 Olympic soccer tournament and a report on the choice of stadiums for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

Other subjects to be discussed include a report on the Goal project, the future of the Club World Championship and financial reports.