admin
BERLIN. — uefa and a rival to fifa president Sepp Blatter on Monday attacked football’s world governing body over claims that a report on reforms was watered down. The new dispute grew as Fifa announced all four remaining candidates for the presidency had passed “integrity checks” so they can stand in an election to be held in May.
Blatter faces strong opposition from European federations.
uefa spokesman Pedro Pinto said allegations in German media showed that Fifa’s Independent Governance Committee “was anything but independent.”
Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, one of three candidates standing against Blatter for the Fifa leadership, said: “There does appear to be evidence of interference in the drafting of the so-called independent Pieth report by Fifa.”
German magazine Der Spiegel reported that criticism of Blatter by independent governance committee chairman Mark Pieth was removed from his final report by Fifa’s chief lawyer Marco Villiger.
Blatter set up the committee in 2011 after a series of scandals.
Der Spiegel said passages which questioned Blatter’s leadership were removed from Pieth’s draft.
Text which linked Blatter to the ISL scandal, in which ex-president Joao Havelange and other senior Fifa figures were accused of taking bribes from the federation’s former marketing partner, were also removed the report said. — AFP.
Online Reporter
dyton mupawaenda