FIFA executive holds last meeting of the year in Tokyo

Chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, the FIFA Executive Committee held its last meeting of the year in Tokyo today, two days ahead of the final matchday of the FIFA Club World Cup 2012, and congratulated Japan’s Local Organising Committee on the organisation of the tournament. During the meeting, the executive confirmed that the issue of third-party ownership of players should be looked at thoroughly in order for FIFA to come up with a proposal to effectively regulate it. Regarding FIFA’s good governance reform process, a detailed report was given by Dr Theo Zwanziger on the meeting held on 12 November by the working group comprising the general secretaries as well as the legal directors of the confederations, which FIFA created in order to consult the 209 member associations and submit proposals regarding the revision of the FIFA Statutes (see the link on the right). This working group will meet again in February 2013. Concerning FIFA’s member associations, the executive took the following decisions: - Football Federation of Indonesia (PSSI): the PSSI has submitted a three-month roadmap. Therefore, the situation of the PSSI will be examined again by the Associations Committee and the Executive Committee at their next meetings. This is the very final deadline that will be given to the PSSI to normalise its situation. - Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA): a SLFA normalisation committee established to run the daily business of the association was initially given until 15 January 2013 to re-establish the electoral process and to organise elections. As more time is needed for this committee to properly accomplish its tasks, its mandate has been extended until 31 July 2013. Furthermore, having decided on 21 May 2012 to allow FIFA member associations to play international friendly games with teams of the Football Federation of Kosovo, which is not a member of FIFA, the executive today agreed to implement this decision immediately for youth, amateur, women’s and club football. The executive took also a number of decisions regarding the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™: - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ – the venues for the opening match, final and semi-finals were approved as follows: o Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow for the opening match, one semi-final and the final o FIFA World Cup Stadium, Saint Petersburg for one semi-final - FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 – the following four venues were approved: o FIFA World Cup Stadium, Kazan o FIFA World Cup Stadium, Sochi o Spartak Stadium, Moscow o FIFA World Cup Stadium, Saint Petersburg - The executive also confirmed the Finance Committee’s decision to appoint Byrom plc. as FIFA’s official accommodation agency for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ following an open public tender process conducted by FIFA (see separate media release for more information). The executive also approved the new FIFA Stadium Safety and Security Regulations. The main objective of the review was to broaden the security concepts. The next steps in this area will include, amongst others, the following points: assistance to FIFA member associations (MAs), including the delivery of workshops to MAs and national security officers; finalisation of FIFA Fan Fest safety and security advice; FIFA stadium inspection and investigation capability. Moreover, the executive advocated having a defibrillator (AED) available at every stadium. The next meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee will be held in Zurich on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 March 2013.