FIFA plans to add slew of new committees years after cutting them in anti
GENEVA (AP) — FIFA is set to create dozens of new committees and expert panels, reversing a governance reform passed in 2016 when the world soccer body was in turmoil during corruption scandals.
FIFA’s plan to increase its number of standing committees from seven to 35 — with the option to let its president Gianni Infantino create and appoint extra panels of experts — was detailed in a draft update of its legal statutes released late Wednesday.
Creating the new bodies could let FIFA award hundreds of expenses-paid committee seats to soccer officials worldwide who will vote on the new rules at a May 17 meting in Thailand. A similar system widely seen as patronage to encourage loyalty thrived in the presidency of Sepp Blatter who was ousted from office in 2015.
The American and Swiss federal investigations of international soccer, revealed in May 2015 by hotel and office raids in Zurich, led to a wide-ranging review of FIFA’s management structure and principles.