FIFA Ethics Committee
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The FIFA Ethics Committee is one of
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
's three judicial bodies. It is organized in two chambers, the ''Investigatory Chamber'' and the ''Adjudicatory Chamber''. Its duties are regulated by several official documents, most importantly the ''FIFA Code of Ethics''. FIFA's other judicial bodies are the ''Disciplinary Committee'' and the ''Appeal Committee''.


Investigatory Chamber

The Investigatory Chamber's main task is to investigate potential violations of the ''FIFA Code of Ethics''. Investigations can be carried out at any time, on the discretion of the Investigatory Chamber. In
prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
cases, the chamber has to open investigations. The chamber has to inform all parties involved that an investigation is being carried out, except for situations in which such information could harm the investigations. Investigatory methods include written inquiries and interviews with the parties and other witnesses. Investigations can, if necessary, be conducted by several members of the chamber and can also be assisted by third parties. At the end of an investigation, the chamber delivers a final report to the Adjudicatory Chamber. Should new and important information regarding an investigation come to light, however, the chamber can reopen an investigatory process.


Adjudicatory Chamber

The Adjudicatory Chamber has to review the reports of the Investigatory Chamber and decide whether a case should be proceeded or closed. The Adjudicatory Chamber has the right to return a report to the Investigatory Chamber or carry out further investigations on its own behalf. After reviewing a report of the Investigatory Chamber and after conducting further investigations if deemed necessary, the Adjudicatory Chamber sends a report to all parties involved and asks for their statements. In addition, the Adjudicatory Chamber has to finally decide on appropriate sanctions. Sanctions must relate to the three fundamental documents regulating the conduct of any person related to FIFA. These documents are the ''FIFA Code of Ethics'', the ''FIFA Disciplinary Code'' and the ''FIFA Statutes''. Thus, sanctions can range from warnings and reprimands for lesser cases of misbehavior up to lifelong bans on taking part in any football-related activity worldwide.


Membership

The chairmen of FIFA's judicial bodies and their deputies are elected directly by the
FIFA Congress The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA . FIFA is the international governing body of ...
and can only be deposed from their offices by the FIFA Congress. The term of office is four years, members can however be re-elected. Chairmen and deputy chairmen of both chambers have to be qualified to practice law and the individual members of the two chambers should be put together in order to ensure an overall high degree of qualifications with regard to their task. In addition, the members of the Ethics Committee should also represent the respective FIFA member associations in an appropriate way. The members of FIFA's judicial bodies must not serve as members of the Executive Committee or any other of FIFA's standing committees.


Independence

The chairmen and deputy chairmen of the two chambers of the ''Ethics Committee'' as well as the chairman of the ''FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee'' have to fulfill the independence criteria set up in the ''Standing Orders of the Congress''. To ensure that the independence criteria are met by the respective committee members, annual reviews of the incumbent chairmen and deputy chairmen as well as candidates for chairmen and deputy chairmen of the Ethics Committee and the Audit and Compliance Committee are mandatory. Reviews must be conducted by another committee. Therefore, the Ethics Committee's members are being reviewed by the Audit and Compliance Committee, which in turn is being reviewed by the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee. In addition, the Ethics Committee conducts the integrity checks for the following FIFA offices: FIFA President, all members of the Executive Committee, chairman, deputy chairman and members of the Audit and Compliance Committee, and all chairmen, deputy chairmen and members of FIFA's judicial bodies, with the obvious exception of the Ethics Committee itself, which is checked by the Audit and Compliance Committee. No FIFA committee is allowed to review or check its own members.


Members


History

Since 1998, FIFA has implemented an increasing number of rules and regulations intended to modernize and improve the accountability and transparency of its governance processes. In the wake of accusations of
bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
of referees in 2006, FIFA decided to create an Ethics Committee, with the aim of investigating allegations of corruption in football. In the beginning, the Ethics Committee was first headed by
Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...
, and between 2010 and 2012 by the former Swiss football player and
attorney at law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Unite ...
Claudio Sulser Claudio Sulser (born 8 October 1955 in Lugano, Switzerland) is a retired football striker. During his club career, Sulser played for FC Mendrisio-Stabio, FC Vevey Sports 05, Grasshoppers Zürich and FC Lugano. He also represented the Swiss n ...
. However, it was not until 2011 that Mark Pieth, a criminal law professor at the
University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...
, Switzerland, and head of the so-called ''FIFA Independent Governance Committee'' (IGC), started to assess the FIFA-structures. Pieth subsequently published a report with suggestions for an indepth reform of the Ethics Committee in order to establish a modernized body for FIFA-internal investigations and jurisdiction. The ICG was constituted as an external advisory board for FIFA by the Executive Committee on 17 December 2011. It had a mandate until the end of 2013. In the beginning, the IGC-report received substantial criticism, including from within the IGC itself. Sylvia Schenk, sports adviser of Transparency International (TI), criticized that Pieth received payments from FIFA for his work. Schenk refrained from becoming a member of IGC.
Roger A. Pielke, Jr. Roger A. Pielke Jr. (born November 2, 1968) is an American political scientist and professor, and was the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the Un ...
, who also authored an publication on the accountability of FIFA, stated in his blog ''The Least Thing'' that Pieth, or his Basel-based Institute of Governance, had received USD 128,000 for his work and could therefore not be regarded as acting independent. Pieth, however, replied that it is best practice for any organization to remunerate audit reports, because "we can't start asking audit firms to do their job for free just to make sure they are independent." Much controversy also erupted around the question whether the IGC should be allowed to take a stance on earlier cases of potential corruption. Meanwhile, this issue has been codified in the 2012 FIFA Code of Ethics. The Ethics Committee’s Investigatory Chamber has the right to investigate into previous allegations of bribery. The FIFA Ethics Committee has a history of corruption and controversy. The
2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
in Brazil was criticized for fraudulent billing and producing hundreds of tons of waste from the building and usage of stadiums. From 2014 and on, pressure built as the public and the media recognized inconsistencies and policy violations in FIFA-run tournaments. The FIFA Ethics Committee struggles, according to Sahiba Gill of "Whose Game? FIFA, Corruption, and the Challenge of Global Governance", to understand why its past reforms and public addresses don't suffice, and why they should ultimately resort to complete public transparency. The ethics committee continues to be accused, by Paul MacInnes of The Guardian, of lacking decency and awareness to publicly recognize these problems. One problem that was recognized by the committee in 2014, was the bribery involving referees receiving expensive watches from Brazilian higher-ups. A document from the United States Department of Justice described in full detail the sentencing of nine FIFA officials and five FIFA executive. Not only was this blatant and beyond face-saving, but was detrimental to the tournament and its no-tolerance policies against bribery. Scholars estimate that FIFA's past two decades of corruption totals around $150 million. Even though FIFA is governed by Swiss law, authorities there have largely ignored the allegations toward FIFA and its ethics committee until confronted by U.S. authorities in 2015. In 2010, Qatar was chosen to be the first Middle Eastern country to host a World Cup. Not only was this debated and controversial because of law differences, but also because of well-documented human rights atrocities.
Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
, former president and president at the time of selection, was quoted saying that "It was a bad choice". Despite this, the FIFA Ethics Committee gave the seal of approval on Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host. The FIFA Ethics Committee was put in place to police and regulate foul play and poor decisions made by FIFA representatives. The committee's history with policy violations and human rights debates have attracted concerns that FIFA lacks the competency and discipline to address them. A lack of consideration of human rights in the committee showed that while the public recognized the difficulties with selecting Qatar as the next host, they were willing to look past these claims by the media/public. Qatar's recent history with media claims of tolerating human rights atrocities and having a disregard for FIFA's policies, proved a difficult task for FIFA to handle and cover up. FIFA announced its first human rights policy in 2017 following the decision for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. The conversation surrounding human rights violations started primarily in reference to Qatar's mistreatment involving migrant workers which make up 90% of its labor force. In addition to human rights violations, the FIFA Ethics Committee gave Qatar the go ahead despite the controversy surrounding its temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer months. This is another public criticism that wasn't confronted despite the numerous complaints mentioning heat exhaustion and the countless other bids from countries that would be far more suitable as a host. Speaking on Qatar's questionable behavior,
Hans-Joachim Eckert Hans-Joachim Eckert (born 1948, in Plochingen Plochingen (Swabian: ''Blocheng'' or ''Blochenga'') is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It lies on the river Neckar, on which it has a river port. With ab ...
, head of the adjudicatory arm of FIFA’s ethics committee, mentioned that “the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it”.


Investigatory Chamber and the Adjudicatory Chamber

Following suggestions of the IGC's first report in 2012, the FIFA Executive Committee decided to establish two independent entities, the ''Investigatory Chamber'' and the ''Adjudicatory Chamber'', headed by experienced and independent legal professionals. The Ethics Committee is allowed to investigate present as well as previous allegations. In 2016, committee member
Juan Pedro Damiani Juan Pedro Damiani (born June 14, 1958) is a Uruguayan lawyer, and a former member of the FIFA Ethics Committee. Damiani resigned from the FIFA Ethics Committee on 6 April 2016, following allegation in the Panama Papers, connecting him to fellow ...
was being subjected to an internal investigation over the legal assistance he had provided as a lawyer to
Eugenio Figueredo Eugenio Hermes Figueredo Aguerre (born 10 March 1932 in Santa Lucía, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan and American association football executive and former footballer. In May 2015, he was banned by FIFA Ethics Committee. Biography As a footballer, Fi ...
, a football official who had been charged by US authorities with wire fraud and money laundering, as part of the
2015 FIFA corruption case In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach s ...
. After a preliminary investigation was opened by the Ethics Committee's Investigatory Chamber, Damiani resigned from the Ethics Committee on 6 April 2016. In early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president
Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. He ...
attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. On 9 May 2017, following Infantino's proposal, the FIFA Council decided not to renew the mandates of
Cornel Borbély Cornel Borbély (born 1978) is a Swiss jurist. He is a lawyer in Zurich and was from 2014 until 2017 the second chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee. Life and education Borbély was born in 1978 in Dürnten. After ...
and
Hans-Joachim Eckert Hans-Joachim Eckert (born 1948, in Plochingen Plochingen (Swabian: ''Blocheng'' or ''Blochenga'') is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It lies on the river Neckar, on which it has a river port. With ab ...
. Together with the chairmen, eleven of 13 committee members were removed. Borbely and Eckert claimed that when ousted, they were in the process of investigating hundreds of cases and that their removal was a "setback for the fight against corruption" and that "meant the de facto end of Fifa's reform efforts".


Football officials banned

Football officials banned by FIFA Ethics Committee include: *
Amos Adamu Amos Adamu (born 31 December 1952) is a Nigerian sports administrator, he was Director General of the Nigerian National Sports Commission for ten years before being redeployed in November 2008. Before his appointment as Director General, Adamu wa ...
* Sayed Aghazada *
Ahmad Ahmad Ahmad Ahmad (born 30 December 1959) is a Malagasy politician and football leader. He was the President of the Confederation of African Football, and vice-president of FIFA from 2017 to 2021. Biography Ahmad Ahmad was born in Madagascar ...
* Chabour Goc Alei * Ganbold Bayannemekh * Ariel Alvarado *
Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
*
Luis Bedoya Luis Erberto Bedoya Giraldo (born 1959) is a Colombian former football administrator. He is a former member of the FIFA Council. In May 2016, Bedoya was banned for life by the FIFA Ethics Committee for racketeering and wire fraud Mail fraud ...
*
Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
*
Chuck Blazer Charles Gordon Blazer (April 26, 1945 – July 12, 2017) was an American soccer administrator, who held a number of high level positions before becoming a government informant on widespread corruption within organized soccer. He was a FIFA Exec ...
* Edmond Bowen *
Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero (14 November 1943 – 4 April 2020) was the President of Honduras from 27 January 1990 to 27 January 1994, representing the National Party of Honduras (PNH). Early life and education Callejas was born on 14 No ...
* Adeel Carelse *
Ibrahim Chaibou Ibrahim Chaibou (born May 10, 1966) is a former association football referee from Niger and current military officer in the Niger armed forces. Career as a referee and controversies Chaibou gained the FIFA international badge in 1996 and conti ...
* Luis Chiriboga * Najeeb Chirakal * David Chung * Albert Colaco * Aaron Davidson * Eduardo Deluca * Domingo Mituy Edjang *
Rafael Esquivel Rafael Esquivel Melo (born 1946/1947) is a Venezuelan former football administrator. He was a member of CONMEBOL executive committee and president of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF). Career and arrest Esquivel was president of the V ...
* Koukou Hougnimon Fagla * Yvette Félix * Vernon Manilal Fernando *
Eugenio Figueredo Eugenio Hermes Figueredo Aguerre (born 10 March 1932 in Santa Lucía, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan and American association football executive and former footballer. In May 2015, he was banned by FIFA Ethics Committee. Biography As a footballer, Fi ...
* Steve Goddard * Johan Wesley Gonjuan * Rosnick Grant * Mohammed bin Hammam * Lionel Haven *
Alfredo Hawit Alfredo Hawit Banegas (born 8 October 1951) is a Honduran lawyer and former footballer. He is the head of the National Autonomous Federation of Football of Honduras and was made the interim head of CONCACAF on 4 June 2011. Club career As a pla ...
* Issa Hayatou *
Sergio Jadue Sergio Elías Jadue Jadue ( La Calera, 26 April 1979) is the former president of the National Association of Professional Football of Chile (ANFP) and second vice president of the Conmebol. He pleaded guilty on the 2015 FIFA corruption case. In ...
*
Yves Jean-Bart Yves Jean-Bart, nicknamed Dadou, (born 30 October 1947 in Aquin), was the President of the Haitian Football Federation until 20th October 2020, when he was banned for life following a sexual harassment investigation by ''The Guardian''. He was re-e ...
* Musa Hassan Bility * Brayan Jiménez * Nella Joseph * Abu Bakarr Kabba * Kerramuudin Karim *
Markus Kattner Markus Kattner (born 24 September 1970 in Bayreuth, West Germany) is a German- Swiss business consultant and former association football executive. He served as acting Secretary-General of FIFA from September 2015 to May 2016, but was sacked afte ...
* Lindile Kika * Mooketsi Kgotlele * Richard K. Lai *
Nicolás Leoz Nicolás Leoz Almirón (10 September 1928 – 28 August 2019) was President of CONMEBOL (''South American Football Confederation'') from 1986 to 2013. Leoz assumed the presidency in 1986 (succeeding Teófilo Salinas Fuller) and in February 200 ...
*
Eduardo Li Eduardo Li Sánchez (, born 11 November 1958) is a Costa Rican football administrator, FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member, and former Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUT) president. He co-founded Punt ...
*
Julio Rocha López Julio Rocha López (; 12 October 1950 – 13 January 2018) was a Nicaraguan football administrator, FIFA development officer, Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president, and Nicaraguan Football Federation (FENIFUT) president. Rocha L ...
*
Worawi Makudi Worawi Makudi ( th, วรวีร์ มะกูดี) (born 29 November 1951), also referred in the media as Bung Yee ( th, บังยี, ) is a Thai former football official. He was a member of the FIFA Council from 1997 to 2015. He serve ...
* Jamal Malinzi * Oden Charles Mbaga *
José Maria Marin José Maria Marin (born 6 May 1932) is a Brazilian politician and former sports administrator who was the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, ''CBF'') from March 2012 until April 2015. H ...
* José Luis Meiszner * Boniface Mwamelo *
Harold Mayne-Nicholls Harold Alfred Mayne-Nicholls Secul (born 27 July 1961) is a Chilean journalist and former football administrator who was president of the National Professional Football Association (ANFP) and of the Chilean Football Federation (FFCh). He was ...
* Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas * Saoud Al-Mohannadi * Chung Mong-joon * Sadio Jose Mugadza * Jonathan Musavengana * Juan Ángel Napout * Manuel Irénio Lopes Nascimento * Tai Nicholas *
Kirsten Nematandani Kirsten Nematandani (born May 27, 1958) is a former South African Football Association (SAFA) president and businessman. He became the president of the Venda Football Association (VEFA) in 1988. Career From 1986 to 1988, he was the coach of Fo ...
*
Patrice Edouard Ngaissona Patrice is a given name meaning ''wiktionary:noble, noble'' or ''Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician'', related to the names Patrick (given name), Patrick and Patricia (disambiguation), Patricia. In English language, English, Patrice is often a fem ...
*
Wolfgang Niersbach Wolfgang Niersbach (born 30 November 1950) is a German sports official and former sports journalist. From 2 March 2012 until 9 November 2015, he was President of the German Football Association (german: link=no, Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB). Bio ...
* Romer Osuna *
Constant Omari Constant Omari Selemani (born 14 January 1958), is a Congolese football administrator and a member of the FIFA Council The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association foot ...
* Michel Platini * Sediqi Rustam * Rafael Salguero * Enrique Sanz de Santamaria * Leslie Sedibe * Manuel Burga Seoane * Alexander Shprygin * Samson Siasia * Viphet Sihachakr *
Costas Takkas Costas Michael Takkas ( el, Κώστας Τάκκας, ) is a football administrator, the attaché to the CONCACAF president, and the former CIFA general secretary. Corruption allegations Takkas was arrested in May 2015 in Switzerland to fac ...
* Bana Tchanilé * Reynald Temarii * Ricardo Texeira *
Ganesh Thapa Ganesh Thapa ( ne, गणेश थापा) is an ex president of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). He was formerly the president of the South Asian Football Federation and the vice president of Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Fami ...
* Jérôme Valcke * Badji Mombo Wantete * Daryll Warner * Jack Warner * Jeffrey Webb * Obert Zhoya


References


External links


FIFA Ethics Committee
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