Fifa will meet its leading commercial partners after three of them increased pressure for major reforms to footballs governing body following a series of corruption scandals.
Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke said that Coca-Cola, Visa and McDonalds had written asking for information about what was being done to clean up the governance of the sport and admitted that the situation made it difficult to attract new sponsors.
What was agreed, and what was requested by some of [our sponsors] is to meet and, finally, I think it was two or three days ago, we received a letter coming from all of them, offering to meet all together, he told a press conference on 24 July.
So, there will be a meeting, next month in August, between the main Fifa partners and Fifa. At this meeting, it will be Fifa, but also not just the marketing department but also from our legal department. The main point is to make sure, from their side, that the initial reform process should be, and has to be, through an independent body.
The scandals around Fifa came to a head in May when US prosecutors indicted nine football officials – most of whom had Fifa positions – and five marketing and broadcasting company executives over a range of alleged offences, including fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.
Valcke himself, despite being a senior member of Fifa and a key ally to outgoing president Sepp Blatter, denied being responsible for any of the problems at footballs world governing body.
I dont think that I am really involved. I dont think I have anything to do in this case. I am responsible, within the Fifa administration, for the work that is part of my duty, which is based on the Fifa statute, which clearly defines what is the task of the secretary-general, said the Frenchman.
