ZURICH (AP) — Sepp Blatter says cleaning up world soccer will work only if all 209 countries and six continental confederations follow FIFA by creating anti-corruption and financial oversight panels.
The FIFA president says ethics courts and compliance committees should be “installed in all national associations and in the confederations.”
In a video interview broadcast on FIFA’s website, Blatter says “FIFA alone cannot be the tribunal” for everyone in international soccer.
FIFA appointed leaders of its ethics and compliance panels last year, midway through Blatter’s promised two-year cycle of reforms after bribery and vote-buying scandals.
FIFA has called continental leaders to a Feb. 26 meeting in Zurich to share their findings from a worldwide consultation. Some resistance is likely, with European soccer’s ruling body supporting presidential term limits for FIFA but not itself.
