FIFA chief warns corrupt football officials
Kampala, Feb 19 (IANS) The President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has warned football association leaders not to use money meant for the sport for their own gain.
The FIFA President made it clear that if there were any football federation leaders who wished to enrich themselves with football money, they would be caught and sanctioned, Xinhua news agency reported.
“No one should think of using football money for his own gains,” Infantino said in an interview.
The FIFA chief was in Nouakchott, the largest Saharan city and the Mauritania capital, to attend the seventh FIFA Executive Football Summit.
Infantino said that with the increased funds FIFA was giving to it’s member associations, there was also increased evaluation and monitoring.
“We are asking each football federation to sign a contract with FIFA that focuses on accountability. We are monitoring and auditing centrally to make sure funds are used appropriately,” he added.
He also stressed on the merits of having FIFA summits all over the world.
Infantino said the summits were organised so that football leaders could thrash issues instead of coming to FIFA congresses to simply endorse things they do not understand.
“I wanted to change the aspect of football associations just endorsing views during FIFA assemblies. Instead (I want them to) come and sit down and discuss football freely together with the FIFA President,” he added.
The summit in Mauritania that ended on Sunday discussed a range of issues pertaining to football, with the focus being on the FIFA Forward programme as well as youth and women’s competitions.
Launching the series of summits in Paris in November 2016, Infantino, who made it clear that the game could only develop successfully if FIFA cooperates closely and communicates regularly with its 211 member associations.
Since then, 12 strategic summits have been held around the globe in the 2016-2017 series.