GENEVA (AP) — A leading FIFA anti-corruption adviser has resigned, contending soccer’s governing body failed to change its culture after bribery and vote-buying scandals.
The international nonprofit group TRACE says its president, Alexandra Wrage, has given up her position on a FIFA advisory panel chaired by Swiss law professor Mark Pieth. The group says FIFA “remains the closed society that fueled its problems to begin with.” FIFA declined to comment the resignation.
Pieth’s panel had its final meeting last week in Switzerland before FIFA’s gathering of 209 soccer nations. FIFA members will meet May 31 in Mauritius to approve a slate of reforms presented by President Sepp Blatter’s executive committee, whose rejection of some modernizing proposals frustrated Wrage.
Pieth says his group expects an “intensive workload” monitoring how FIFA implements reforms in the next year.
