FIFA audit chairman Domenico Scala thinking to himself, 'are you f'real?'
It's funny when casual soccer observers tell you, a savvy soccer fan, how well FIFA is cleaning up—that the new guy ("what's-his-name?") is bringing about real change, and that the U.S. saved global soccer. You know better than that. We all know better than that. And you know who else knows better? The—now "former"—FIFA audit chairman.Yesterday may as well have been Gianni Intantino's George Bush "Mission Accomplished" Iraq moment, as the recently-appointed FIFA President held FIFA's annual council in Mexico City on a big day of changes, saying, "I can officially inform you here, the crisis is over." Per Associated Press, Infantino announced yesterday that he appointed well-respected Senegalese United Nations official Fatma Samoura—the first female in a lead position of FIFA—as his No. 2, to replace the horrifyingly corrupt, 12-year banned, and fired Jerome Valcke.Yes, all seemed well. Samoura is a 21-year veteran of the UN and is currently their Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and a UN Development Program's Resident Representative in Nigeria. This is a much needed background for someone who is put in charge of helping clean up the image of an organization that singlehandedly caused an estimated 1,200-death humanitarian crisis. Things are looking up, right?Well, here's something else that happened on the day: Infantino gave himself unprecedented authority—more than Sepp Blatter ever had—over the disciplinary bodies set in place by Blatter in 2012 to monitor FIFA. You know, the checks and balances? Infantino now has full command over the ruling council, the authority to oust ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, investigator Cornel Borbely, and (now former) audit and compliance head Domenico Scala.To top that off, Infantino gaveSamoura the title of Secretary General without an open recruitment process, and has put her in position to have near-unilateral control over business operations. FIFA Corruption Task Force head Francois Carrard (who once refused to acknowledge a systematic problem with FIFA and called soccer in the U.S. "an ethnic sport for schoolgirls"), responded to a question about Samoura's lack of business experience by saying, "The operations will be done by the whole management." Sounds like a conveniently fishy, opaque formula for exploitation.Reacting to Infantino's takeover—and allegedly over disputes about Infantino's proposed $2 million salary—Scala resigned immediately, releasing a statement saying,"I am consternated about this decision because it undermines a central pillar of the good governance of FIFA, and it destroys a substantial achievement of the reforms," adding that he hoped his resignation would be a "wake-up call" for people working to reform FIFA.Infantino's excuse for making such a wanton power grab? He claimed his move to gain control was merely for a year, and that, "The judgments need to be made by the quality of the members which are sitting on these boards rather than by making speculations or putting intentions in the minds of people which are far from the reality." Heaven forbid someone oversee FIFA with an outside perspective.FIFA later released the following statement:
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If you need to find out what Infantino's true intentions were in the move, you can look no further than just a few seconds before he said that the "crisis is over." Yes, Infantino actually said, "Nobody can change the past but I can shape the future." And what's so scary about that? Just one man claiming that he can singlehandedly shape the future of one of the most powerful, wealthy governing bodies in the world. Nothing could go wrong, right?FIFA regrets that Mr. Scala has misinterpreted the purpose of the decision taken by the FIFA Congress. The decision was made to permit the Council to appoint members on an interim basis to the vacant positions of the new committees so they can start fulfilling their roles as part of the ongoing reform process until the next FIFA Congress in 2017. In addition, the measure allows for the swift removal of members who have breached their obligations. The Council fully respects the independence of the Audit and Compliance and the Ethics committees, and any suggestions to the contrary are without merit. Mr. Scala has made unfounded claims which are baseless. FIFA is focused on reform and the path forward as evidenced by the appointment of a new FIFA Secretary General.