http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/world...o-clean-up-fifa

"Many of those who now sit on the Executive Committee will not be there much longer," Pieth said.

"They will resign because of scandals."

Speaking to German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Pieth responded when asked whether he expected more scandals: "I cannot judge yet," before adding "it would surprise me if it went off without scandal."

Pieth also said: "We must see to it that the gangsters do not escape in the wake of reform detractors."

http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/world...ry-says-blatter

"I've been trying to release this exasperating ISL dossier for a long time," he (Blatter) said.

"I'd be ready to do that today if only the court would allow it.

"If there are no new legal objections, it could happen at the end of January."

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents...ance-committee/

Alexandra Wrage, the founder and president of Trace International, was appointed to serve on the Independent Governance Committee... The committee met for the first time in Switzerland last week.

WSJ Interview with Alenandra

"I declined any fees or reimbursement of expenses. This sort of compliance work is squarely within TRACE’s non-profit mission to increase transparency and so we decided it was an appropriate project to accept on a pro bono basis. As a general rule, we decline funding from any source outside our membership".

"Fairly early on in the process, we’re going to assess FIFA’s response to allegations of past wrongdoing. The IGC is not a law enforcement body, of course, but we won’t hesitate to recommend further investigations if appropriate".

Andrew Jennings does it again. (* Via du Nord, Monday's post)

http://www.transparencyinsport.org/When_..._tv_rights.html

An explosive confidential letter written by FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke reveals that he and president Blatter secretly bypassed FIFA’s committees to give World Cup television rights to former vice-president Jack Warner, rather than sell them in the open.

Valcke wrote ‘Here is the agreement signed by the P (President Blatter). This deal has not been through all normal boards or comm. Hence so I'm asking to make no publicity on it for the time being. Kind regards, Jérôme.’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sport...ow/11728032.cms

LAUSANNE: The 11-year-old FIFA-ISL corruption case is going to Switzerland's supreme court after appeals were lodged to block publication of a key document.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal said on Thursday that it has opened five separate case files. The cases are likely to take several months to process.

The court said the appellants' identities must remain confidential.

FIFA Circular 1293, January 30 2012

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affedera...es2012-2015.pdf

Composition of FIFA standing committees and other bodies 2012-2015

...the following criteria are reasons for dismissing a member of a committee and replacing the person accordingly:

i) The person is no Ionger a member of the member association/confederation or organisation which the member should represent, or is no Ionger working in the field of expertise.

ii) The person has been found guilty of criminal acts and faces binding legal actions against him at governmental or FIFA level.

iii) The person repeatedly fails to attend meetings or his absences are not excused.

The real sponsor story that goes here ...

A sad one...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal...ith-Unicef.html

The Qatar Foundation is a not-for-profit trust funded by Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family that specialises in education projects, and their involvement with Barcelona was confirmed just eight days after country controversially won the right to stage the 2022 World Cup.

BOOOO BOOOOOOO BOOOOO BARCA!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/...r?newsfeed=true

The committee overseeing reform at Fifa will decide in April whether it will conduct an investigation into the widespread allegations of past corruption at the highest levels of world football's governing body.

"We will decide then, after that meeting at the end of March, whether there should be an investigation into the more serious allegations of the past," Pieth told the Guardian. "We want to see Fifa's responses to our recommendations for future reform and other issues, including how seriously they deal with allegations themselves. If we are not satisfied with the response, all options are open to us, including setting up a commission with specialist investigators."

"I know this is very emotive and people are impatient," he said. "But people have waited 10 years for reform at Fifa, so I hope they can wait another two months."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dcu...TrPR_story.html

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Mohamed bin Hammam will challenge FIFA in a two-day hearing in April at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a bid to overturn his lifetime ban for alleged election bribery.

CAS has set April 18-19 to hear the case.