Soccer: Fifa's role set to be challenged

BRUSSELS - Fifa, world soccer's governing body, is facing a possible challenge to the way the game is being run, one of the game's leading administrators told Reuters on Monday.

The move could result in a dilution of Fifa's powers in enforcing their decisions globally, according to the administrator who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

He said: "The confederations will propose that Fifa is run by an executive purely made up from the six confederations which will be left to run the game in their own areas as they see fit.

"It is time for the confederations to have more say in how they run the game in their own regions."

Reuters has learned that Fifa's six continental confederations will meet before December's scheduled Fifa executive committee meeting to draw up proposals for how they would like to see Fifa run -- gaining themselves more autonomy in the process.

The catalyst for the change is a move within the European Union on how the governance of the game should be structured within the bloc.

UEFA supports the EU's proposals, Fifa, with the backing of the International Olympic Committee, do not.

The issue has been brewing since earlier this year when Lennart Johansson, the president of the European confederation UEFA, told Fifa president Sepp Blatter of their intentions.

A Fifa spokesman told Reuters: "The proposals are not new. It is quite an interesting idea and we have heard of this before."

Fifa, which celebrated its centenary two years ago, consists of six continental confederations. Its 207 member associations belong to both their parent confederation and Fifa.

The 207 members each have one vote and effectively decide on how soccer is run by voting on issues at the Fifa congress. The agenda for the congress is set by the 24-man executive committee headed by Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

The confederations, also made up of their own FAs, run the game on each continent but have no direct vote at the Fifa congress.

If their meeting proves successful, the confederations intend to deliver their proposals via their associations to Fifa for discussion at its next congress in Zurich in May.

The confederations, however, are expected to face some competition from a number of their own associations.

Not all associations would necessarily want to risk changing the status quo which could limit the amount of aid and funding they receive from Fifa to help run the game in their countries.

But the confederations will argue that they are best qualified on a daily basis to develop and expand the game at an individual level. They also believe they have the backing of the majority of their individual associations.

"Fifa will still be in charge of the game at international level, such as running the World Cup, and so the revenue from that will still be divided evenly," the official said.

"But each confederation is different and needs to be treated as such. It cannot be just one size fits all."

At the heart of the problem is a looming showdown between Fifa and UEFA, backed by the European Union (EU), on how the game should be run in the bloc.

Last month Fifa president Blatter and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge wrote to the European Commission and EU sports ministers protesting about proposed changes to the way sport will be governed in the EU.

A new draft of the review, due to be released later this week, will also call on soccer's governing bodies to "consider a restructuring and streamlining" of their organisations.

UEFA is seeking the adoption by the 25 governments of a European Sports Review completed in April which recommends closer control of sport in the EU including salary caps on soccer players and the monitoring of agents.

In their letter, Fifa and the IOC said they do not support the review and told EU lawmakers and politicians the governance of the sport should be left to soccer's own rule makers.

- REUTERS