FIFA OK’s 12-year term limit for president

ZURICH — FIFA’s executive committee approved a package of planned reforms Thursday aimed at cleaning up soccer’s scandal-plagued world governing body, proposing term limits for senior officials and increased representation for women. The proposals, which would also reduce the power of the executive committee, will be presented in February to FIFA’s Congress, which has the power to alter the statutes. At the same time, the executive committee delayed a decision on a controversial proposal to expand the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams. “These reforms are moving FIFA towards improved governance, greater transparency and more accountability,” FIFA’s acting president, Issa Hayatou, in a statement. “They mark a milestone on our path towards restoring FIFA’s credibility as a modern, trusted and professional sports organization.” Under the proposals, FIFA’s president and leading officials would be restricted to three terms of four years each, and would be subjected to centralized integrity checks before assuming office. Political and management roles, currently both held by the executive committee, would be separated. A FIFA Council, which would replace the executive committee, would be responsible for “setting the organization’s overall strategic direction, while the general secretariat will oversee the operational and commercial actions required to effectively execute that strategy.” There would also be at least one female representative on the FIFA Council for each of the six continental confederations, FIFA said. A proposal to enlarge the World Cup was put on hold. “There was no decision on this proposal, but it will be further debated,” said FIFA. Many people involved in football believe that 32 is the ideal number of participants for a World Cup, and that a larger tournament would be less manageable and suffer a drop in quality. FIFA is under pressure from a series of widening corruption investigations, not least against its president, Sepp Blatter, who is suspended and will be replaced at the congress in February.