Next FIFA boss should be outsider with good human rights record – FIFPro
View(s):Oct 23 (Reuters) – The next FIFA president should be an external candidate with a good record on human rights and governance and provide a strong track record of driving democratic reform, world players’ union FIFPro said on Friday. Football’s world governing body, engulfed in the worst scandal in its history, is set to elect a new president on Feb. 26 to replace the suspended outgoing head Sepp Blatter, who has been in charge since 1998.
“A clean break from the past is essential for FIFA to climb out of the toxic pit which continues to produce serious accusations of corrupt behaviour on almost a daily basis,” FIFPro said in a statement. “Clearly, the presumption of innocence is a principle that needs to be upheld while various investigations are ongoing. At the same time, there is no doubt the present mayhem has left FIFA morally bankrupt.” Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain said this week he had been urged to stand in the election, but FIFPro’s four-point criteria released on Friday was a clear question mark on his suitability.
Salman’s AFC election in 2013 was blighted by accusations from human rights groups that he, as head of the Bahrain Football Association and member of Bahrain’s royal family, had local football players arrested, detained, abused, tortured and publicly humiliated during democracy protests in February 2011.