Chapter 340 The biggest beneficiary! Unprecedented reform! If they are not decent, force them to be decent! [Subscribe]
Following Yang Cheng’s call, more and more football people began to bravely stand up.
In an interview with AS, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez publicly asked FIFA and UEFA to come up with a solution to the current situation as soon as possible.
"They must come up with a convincing enough reform plan to regain the outside world's confidence in football!"
In addition to Real Madrid, Juventus' Andrea Agnelli, Manchester City's Mubarak, Bayern's Rummenigge and others have all stood up and publicly put pressure on FIFA and UEFA.
This group of senior executives from the club all believe that what happened in Zurich has completely caused FIFA and UEFA to lose the trust of fans around the world.
This has never happened in football.
Therefore, the two major institutions must show enough courage and come up with a reform plan as soon as possible.
During the interview, the club executives all believed that the reform plan needed to include more voices from the clubs.
In addition to the club's top management, FA Chairman Greg Dyke also came out to say that President Blatter, who had just been re-elected for just a few hours, and UEFA President were taken away.
Although it was just to assist in the investigation, everyone was disappointed with the corruption problems in FIFA and UEFA over the past few years. "At this moment, I don't think this organization still has the power to promote reforms on its own."
Amid the overwhelming public outcry, David Gill, the newly elected vice-president of FIFA, vice-president of UEFA and vice-president of the English Football Association, also came forward publicly and accepted an interview with media reporters in Zurich, Switzerland.
David Gill expressed regret for what happened last night and apologized to fans around the world on behalf of FIFA.
David Gill said that because what happened last night happened so suddenly, no one was prepared.
Now, the entire core management of FIFA and UEFA is in a state of downtime.
"We are planning to hold an emergency extraordinary meeting of the FIFA Congress, but the premise is that we must first understand what happened."
David Gill believes that FIFA and UEFA executives such as Blatter, Valcke, Platini, Infantino and Bilal were only asked by the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office to assist in the investigation.
The specific situation needs further understanding.
"If they do have corruption and other problems, we will definitely take it seriously!"
But a media reporter at the scene also raised a question.
That is, if Blatter did make a mistake, there was indeed a problem, and the evidence was irrefutable, and he was even sentenced by the Swiss prosecutor's office, but he refused to step down, what should he do? Because in the current operating mechanism of FIFA and UEFA, the power of the president is very, very great.
One could even say that they are dictators! What if they refuse to resign?
According to the current rules of FIFA and UEFA, there is actually no way to take necessary punitive measures against them.
Because they can't punish themselves! David Gill said that this is also one of the topics that will be discussed at the next FIFA Congress extraordinary meeting.
But for now, there is really no good solution.
David Gill believes that if their problems are confirmed by the Swiss prosecutor's office, they should take the initiative to assume responsibility instead of letting FIFA or UEFA take the blame for them.
Of course, if they refuse to take responsibility, FIFA and UEFA will find a way to solve it.
"That would be a hard, brave, but right decision!"
David Gill is the first FIFA executive to come forward and be interviewed and face the public.
But his answer was clearly unsatisfactory.
Especially when everyone saw that even if the two presidents of FIFA and UEFA had committed crimes and even if the evidence was irrefutable, no one could force them to behave decently as long as they were unwilling to do so.
To paraphrase a sentence from an article in the New York Times.
"This time, the actions of the US Department of Justice have made it clear to the whole world why Blatter is called the emperor of world football!"
…
Amid overwhelming condemnation from all over the world, an emergency meeting of FIFA was held at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
And just yesterday, the FIFA presidential election was held here.
Who would have thought that one day later, the discussion here would begin on the criminal issues of the newly re-elected FIFA President.
Countless media reporters from all over the world were stationed outside the FIFA headquarters, waiting for the latest news.
The entire meeting lasted a whole day.
Except for the lunch break, the rest of the time was spent in intense "discussions".
Yes, whether it was the real-time reports from media reporters or the live broadcasts of TV news, the word "intense" was used.
As the Sun reporter said, even from outside the venue one could hear the quarrel coming from inside.
"They have achieved nothing but quarrels during this past day!"
This is the conclusion given by The Sun.
And the final result did disappoint everyone.
The only consensus reached by everyone is that Blatter, Valcke, Platini, Infantino and Bilal are all temporarily suspended and await the results of the Swiss prosecutor's office's investigation.
As the representatives walked out of the conference hall one after another, everyone spoke in a very high-sounding and righteous manner when answering reporters' questions.
But if you listen carefully, you will find that they are not saying anything at all.
David Gill expressed regret in an interview with media reporters, "It is very regrettable that we failed to reach any consensus!"
But David Gill refused to disclose the content of the meeting.
The Times subsequently published a commentary that vividly described the current state of FIFA.
"In this impromptu meeting, these old men still fail to see the reality. They see themselves as a government that rules world football, not a multinational corporation."
“Let me ask you, if you were one of the rulers of this government, would you want to introduce foreign forces?”
By the second day, the debate still showed no signs of abating.
Even on the third day, it was still the same.
This gave everyone a feeling that this group of old guys could really keep arguing like this endlessly.
But can the media reporters outside and the fans around the world continue to pay attention to FIFA news like this? Maybe, tomorrow there will be a big news somewhere, which will immediately attract everyone's attention.
All the media reporters and fans around the world who are watching the game have no way to deal with it.
Just wait.
On the afternoon of the third day, the meeting was finally suspended.
But it was not the quarrel that produced any results, but rather that Blatter, Valcke, Platini, Infantino and Bilal were released.
Although they were released, they were required not to leave Switzerland and had to answer questions from the Swiss prosecutor's office at any time.
The Swiss Prosecutor's Office also held a press conference in the afternoon to introduce the whole process to the public.
The Swiss prosecutor's office said it is still investigating the five FIFA and UEFA officials.
However, the specific progress cannot be disclosed to the public at present.
As for the cause of this incident, the Swiss Prosecutor's Office stated that the Swiss government has been cracking down on sports corruption in the past few years and has achieved certain results.
This is just the latest achievement in the fight against sports corruption.
“To date, there are around 65 international sports federations and organisations in Switzerland, including the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, FIFA in Zurich, UEFA in Nyon, and world governing bodies for gymnastics, cycling, volleyball, basketball, skiing and ice hockey.”
"They get generous tax breaks and flexible legal policies in Switzerland, but at the same time, it inevitably brings more corruption problems."
"This is a long, protracted war!"
The Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office called on international sports management bodies in Switzerland to exercise self-examination and restraint and to increase the transparency of their operations.
However, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper said that the Swiss government had no intention of deliberately targeting these international sports management organizations, and was more under pressure from international public opinion.
After all, the corruption problems in many institutions are indeed too outrageous.
It’s already 2015, and they are still so brazen! Now that the United States has taken action, can Switzerland still remain calm?
But the benefits of these international institutions for Switzerland are also obvious.
As early as 2007, a survey showed that in the Swiss canton of Vaud alone, where Lausanne is located, these international sports organizations brought 1,400 high-paying jobs and $200 million in tax revenue each year.
This is just the canton of Vaud, what about the whole of Switzerland?
Under such circumstances, how could Switzerland bear to wipe out these international organizations? After regaining their freedom, Blatter, Platini and others held a press conference in a hotel in Zurich that day, saying that they were innocent and were just cooperating with the investigation.
Regarding various rumors from the outside world, Blatter said they were all rumors.
As for resigning on my own initiative...
"This is impossible. I didn't make any mistakes. Why should I resign?"
But regarding the current situation of FIFA, Blatter said that it has indeed reached the point where a thorough reform is necessary.
As for how to reform, Blatter said he would have to wait until he returns to his post and convenes a congress to discuss and decide.
"But I can guarantee that this will be the most powerful institutional reform in history!"
“Will external supervision be introduced?”
"Of course, I never object to that!"
"We established the FIFA Independent Governance Committee (IGC) in 2011, which consists of 13 members, including senior anti-corruption and legal experts. This has always been in my work plan."
Blatter also responded for the first time to Yang Cheng, who is praised by many media and fans as a pioneer in the fight against corruption in world football. "He is my friend. I have always hoped to find an opportunity to have a good talk with him."
"I believe he should be able to bring me and FIFA a lot of practical and valuable suggestions."
…
"Brat wants to see me?"
When Yang Cheng met David Gill in London, the latter brought him a piece of news that made Yang Cheng laugh.
Although, he had seen it in the media.
"I thought he was just joking." Yang Cheng found it funny.
But David Gill said seriously, "He means it."
Yang Cheng was really surprised.
But if you think about it, it's actually normal.
Blatter's style of doing things has always been to suppress when possible and to appease when he cannot.
Offer various conditions to recruit the rebels.
More importantly, now, Blatter needs the help of Yang Cheng to appease all the media and fans and suppress public opinion.
"We must not let Blatt come back!" Yang Cheng reminded solemnly.
David Gill nodded solemnly.
But soon, the Englishman let out another heavy breath.
"In fact, in the past few days, after meeting with these people, the biggest feeling I had was tiredness."
After saying this, David Gill sighed tiredly and helplessly again.
"What do you mean?"
"In fact, there are strong voices calling for reform within FIFA, but as the media said, the entire meeting was just a quarrel and it was difficult to discuss a result."
After hearing this, Yang Cheng suddenly found it a little funny.
He had expected such a scene.
It's impossible for more than two hundred people to get together without quarreling.
This actually involves a long-standing controversy.
That's efficiency.
As an international organization, every major decision of FIFA often needs to take into account the differences in economic, cultural and other aspects of various countries, and balance various political influences.
In particular, the independence of FIFA must be taken into account.
Let’s not talk about politics. This is not just empty talk among FIFA, the football federations of various continents, and even the football associations and leagues of various countries.
Having so much to consider will naturally lead to complex games and trade-offs.
Not to mention anything else, who will host the World Cup held every four years?
Just this one point, if it were brought up for public discussion, believe it or not, the World Cup would never be held!
To a certain extent, if an organization like FIFA wants to be efficient, there will inevitably be a lot of under-the-table transactions.
In fact, the reason why governments of various countries have turned a blind eye to organizations like FIFA over the years is because of this, and no one can do anything about it.
Let alone the more than 200 representatives, even the executive committee, which now has 24 members, still quarrel during meetings.
Everyone has their own interests and it is difficult to reach a consensus.
Therefore, over the past few years, Havelange and Blatter's usual practice has been to operate behind the scenes and exchange interests.
But over time, day by day, it inevitably leads to a state of collapse-style corruption.
In the past few days, Yang Cheng has actually been thinking about a question.
What is the next step for FIFA? How should it reform? In 2011, FIFA actually underwent a major reform.
This is the IGC FIFA Independent Governance Committee mentioned by Blatter in an interview with media reporters.
The members of the IGC come from both inside and outside FIFA, the most famous of whom is Swiss anti-corruption expert Mark Pease.
Mark Pease is the founder of the Basel Governance Institute, a premium international law firm specializing in white-collar crime and Swiss criminal law, based in Basel.
Mark Pease has over thirty years of legal experience and a distinguished professional track record in the areas of economic crime, corruption, money laundering, fraud, and Swiss law in domestic and international litigation.
He was a professor of criminal law at the University of Basel for 27 years and played important legal roles in many international organizations.
FIFA hired him as head of the IGC in 2011 to work with the other 12 members to carry out institutional reforms at FIFA.
But the IGC only existed for one year.
During this year, one major reform they made to FIFA was to split up the Ethics Committee established in 2006.
At this point it is necessary to mention a very important premise, that is, within FIFA, including the continental football federations and national football associations, there is a common unspoken rule that is not to resort to the laws of any country.
To put it simply, internal conflicts should be resolved internally.
This is actually understandable.
Once the conflicts and contradictions between members become public, they can easily evolve into conflicts between countries to a certain extent, which will directly rise to the political level and become very troublesome.
It could even get out of control.
After all, the world is not peaceful, and there are still many historical conflicts and hatreds between countries.
FIFA simply cannot continue if it gets bogged down in this problem.
Since it needs to be resolved internally, there must be an internal judicial body.
There are three judicial bodies within FIFA, namely the Disciplinary Committee, which mainly targets member associations, clubs, officials, players, agents and competition participants, etc.
There is also an Appeal Committee, which is primarily responsible for handling appeals against decisions of the Disciplinary Committee.
Although the final decision of the Appeal Committee is binding on all parties, if you disagree, you can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The third and most powerful one is the Ethics Committee, which was established in 2006 and is mainly responsible for investigating and trying violations of FIFA's Code of Ethics, including anti-corruption investigations.
From 2006 to 2012, the Ethics Committee was a virtual non-existent body as it held all the power, took orders from the FIFA president and was itself mired in corruption.
So, after 2011, after FIFA came under external pressure, it invited Mark Peace and others to form the IGC, and the first thing they did was to split up the Ethics Committee.
Isn’t it the job of the Ethics Committee to investigate and judge?
Well then, let’s separate the two major powers and responsibilities and turn them into an investigation court and a trial court.
According to Mark Peace and others, splitting up the Ethics Committee is only the first step to combat internal corruption.
The next step is to define a new governance structure.
In addition, looking back from 2015, the IGC has another very important achievement.
Garcia reports! American Garcia is also one of the 13 members of the IGC and was introduced to FIFA by Mark Pease.
As a result, this catfish turned FIFA upside down and produced the Garcia Report.
From this point, we can see the significant impact that IGC had on FIFA at that time.
Then why was this organization abolished after only one year in existence?
Because one of the very important measures in the second phase of reforms proposed by the IGC is to impose strict restrictions on the age and term of office of all FIFA employees.
At the same time, they will conduct due diligence on officials from various executive committees within FIFA.
In the view of Mark Peace and others, this is a normal thing that all large multinational companies do.
FIFA is such a big organization, if you don't conduct internal due diligence, how do you know who in the organization can do things and who can't? But FIFA is obviously abnormal.
Oh my goodness, this has directly stirred up a hornet's nest.
Blatter was the first to say no! Limiting age and term, isn't that limiting myself? I'm not stupid!
IGC has caused a lot of controversy within FIFA, but outside of FIFA, few people are paying attention to it.
Many FIFA senior officials, even executive committee members, agree with the IGC's reform plan.
But in fact, everyone has his or her own little notebook.
For example, Mark Peace’s strong supporter, former FIFA executive committee member and German Football Association president Theo Zwanziger.
This old German man still frequently goes to the media to make comments.
Recently, he has often spoken out about how he supported reform in the past, but was framed.
What is the reality?
In 2002, when Germany was bidding to host the 2006 World Cup, Zwanziger resorted to bribery, including giving 10 million Swiss francs to AFC President Hamann.
The key point is that after the incident was exposed, he did not resign voluntarily. In the end, even the German Football Association could not stand it anymore and asked him to resign voluntarily.
All in all, this is also a farce.
Therefore, there are actually various different voices within FIFA regarding reform.
Everyone has their own interests.
In the past period of time, Yang Cheng has actually been thinking about this matter.
In fact, it is not only the IGC that has failed in reform.
In Yang Cheng’s previous life, after Blatter and Platini stepped down, Infantino emerged as a dark horse and took charge of FIFA.
At that time, Infantino launched a vigorous reform, including age limits, term limits, and various reforms.
It seems very bold, but what about the reality?
This is just Infantino's delaying tactic.
In 2021, when Infantino had established himself and gained power, the first thing he did was to remove Hans Joachim Eckert, the chief prosecutor of the Ethics Committee.
Instead, Colombian lawyer Maria Claudia Rojas took over.
By controlling the Ethics Committee through the appointment of such personnel and projecting his will into this internal anti-corruption agency, Infantino has greatly expanded his power.
Judging from this series of actions, Yang Cheng believes that the biggest problem with FIFA's anti-corruption efforts is the lack of independence of the organization.
For example, the Ethics Committee.
FIFA always says that of the four independent committees, three are judicial bodies.
The Ethics Committee has been repeatedly brought up to prove FIFA's determination to fight corruption within the organization.
But if you look more closely, the head of this organization can be removed or replaced at the chairman's discretion.
As Luo Chuizi said: They are all kept by others, so where does the independent and objective third party come from? Now, David Gill can't go any further, so Yang Cheng goes with the flow and gives his own suggestion.
"For the time being, don't worry about Blatter and others. Just hold on to the greater good and use the pressure of public opinion to reform FIFA's constitution!"
“The first is to reform the 24-member executive committee and expand it to a 36-member board of directors, selected from the 209 representatives.”
David Gill was stunned for a moment. "Impossible, they won't agree."
Yang Cheng smiled and said, "Think about it again. How many of the 24-member executive committee members are left? If the board of directors expands to 36 people, how many representatives will have the opportunity to join?"
David Gill was stunned for a moment, and immediately realized the crux of the problem.
As soon as the English understood the trick, they immediately applauded!
What a genius! After all the fuss by the US and Swiss governments, more than half of the 24-member executive committee were removed.
Among the remaining people, who doesn't want to be on the 36-member council?
These people will definitely support reform!
"The management and operation are separated. The Council is responsible for FIFA's overall business strategy, development direction, official selection and financial approval, while the various executive committees below are run by professionals."
As a result, the Executive Committee, which originally consisted of 24 people and held all the power, was immediately split into two. Although it was expanded to 36 people, the executive committee was also stripped out.
"A supervisory board will be established, which will be parallel to the board of directors and completely independent. There will be no affiliation between the two. The supervisory board will attend the board of directors' meetings and have the right to review documents, audit financial reports, conduct due diligence on officials and other compliance supervision rights."
“The Supervisory Board does not participate in the decision-making of the Board of Directors and the operation of the Executive Committee, but has the power to investigate officials’ violations and propose the removal of officials who fail to perform their duties.”
If David Gill had not noticed the previous board reforms, the Englishman completely understood them when it came to the supervisory board.
This is to divide the power of the FIFA president! Although the Council does not participate in specific decision-making and execution, it has the power to question and impeach, and can also supervise officials.
Isn't this equivalent to having a sword hanging over the head of the FIFA President?
This is a bit outrageous! "I'm afraid this is a bit difficult. In the current FIFA constitution, there is no Supervisory Board or Council."
“That’s why we say we need to reform the charter.”
Yang Cheng also saw through David Gill's little thoughts.
To put it bluntly, if given the opportunity to become the president of FIFA, who would be willing to share power with others?
"Of course, the power of the Supervisory Board cannot be too great, otherwise it will exacerbate internal friction within the organization. Therefore, it is best for the Supervisory Board to be chaired by people outside FIFA, a bit like the independent directors of listed companies."
After hearing this, David Gill completely understood the benefits of the mechanism outlined by Yang Cheng.
From the perspective of organizational structure, such reform is a drastic change and the boldness is absolutely unprecedented.
But the most critical thing here is the establishment of a supervisory board.
In theory, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board is almost parallel to the FIFA President, who is the Chairman of the Council.
But he is independent of FIFA.
Isn’t this the kind of external supervision that the outside world has been calling for? FIFA now urgently needs a strong "independent director" to endorse FIFA's credit and make the media and fans around the world believe in FIFA's determination and courage to reform.
This can help FIFA overcome its current crisis of confidence.
As Yang Cheng said before, the biggest problem with an organization like FIFA is trust.
He must win the trust of fans all over the world! And overall, who is more suitable for this position than Yang Cheng now?
David Gill even wondered if Yang Cheng had planned this from the beginning?
Just like he got Blatter, Platini and others involved? He directly became the biggest beneficiary! But think about it, with Yang Cheng and the forces behind him, do they need to do this?
If we look at it purely from the perspective of the system, the institutional reform designed by Yang Cheng is indeed very good and highly feasible.
As long as we throw in the cake of 36 members of the council, it is estimated that the possibility of passage is very high.
"David, Blatter and Platini have all come out and they must be trying to mediate now."
Yang Cheng looked at David Gill and added fuel to the fire.
"Now, we must not let them revive. Otherwise, it won't be a big deal for me, but those who oppose him will definitely suffer."
The fact that Blatter was willing to talk to him proved that Yang Cheng had great united front value to him.
"After the institutional reform is established, the Supervisory Board will be able to conduct financial audits as a matter of course. You come from a financial background, so you must know that even if FIFA is a mess, we can still get what we want from it."
"The Swiss prosecutor's office now estimates that the evidence is insufficient, but if we hand over these things, it will be enough to send Blatter and Platini to jail again!"
"If they still don't want to be decent by then, then we'll make them decent!"
David Gill is a smart guy.
He is well aware that he is now the vice president of FIFA.
But what is the reality? How many people listen to him? Who can he command? If he follows Yang Cheng's advice and initiates this reform to force Blatter to step down, then he will get Yang Cheng's support and take the position of FIFA president. Although he will be supervised and his power will be curbed, it will be better than now.
On the other hand, if he refuses to cooperate, it is hard to say what the outcome will be.
At least, given his current situation, without Yang Cheng's support, he would never be able to ascend to the position of FIFA president! "I understand!"
When David Gill thought of this, he immediately understood.
"I will return to Zurich overnight and start preparing tomorrow. I will then propose that you be invited to sit in on the FIFA Congress!"
When Yang Cheng heard this, he immediately laughed.
Talking to smart people is easy! As long as I appear at the FIFA Congress, there are many things that these representatives cannot help but support! Why do you keep making a fuss?
Do you believe me, I will go out and tell the media about your ugly deeds? ...
Yang Cheng actually made two preparations.
After David Gill left, he accepted interviews from several authoritative media outlets including The Times and The Guardian the next day.
During this interview, Yang Cheng said that he did not want to meet Blatter.
"I don't know, is there any meaning in such a meeting?"
Yang Cheng also expressed great disappointment that FIFA has been slow to reach a conclusion.
"I don't know the specific reason, because I am not qualified to attend the trial!"
Yang Cheng's words were immediately amplified by the media.
Various voices began to appear in the media and on the Internet, saying that FIFA had said it would introduce external supervision. Then it should start from this FIFA Congress! Inviting Yang Cheng to sit in on the meeting was a good opportunity, wasn't it?
"As an anti-corruption fighter, Yang Cheng's fight against Blatter, Platini and others over the past period of time has been witnessed by the whole world."
"Now, he will attend the FIFA Congress as an observer. I think this is a great opportunity for FIFA to further improve its transparency!"
"At the very least, it shows us FIFA's determination to reform!"
"If they are guilty and can't even do such a small thing, how can we believe that they are determined to carry out internal reforms?"
From the day Yang Cheng stood up against Blatter and Platini, he became the center of public opinion and the focus of everyone's attention.
The vast majority of FIFA people are opposed to allowing outsiders to attend the FIFA Congress.
The reason is simple. They believe that this will interfere with FIFA's normal decision-making.
But once the news came out, it immediately triggered media criticism and public outcry.
Normal decision?
With an outsider in attendance, FIFA can't make normal decisions? Yang Cheng went even further and directly questioned FIFA in the media.
"Is your normal decision-making so shameful?"
"It's 2015, and so many things have happened. Do you still think you are normal?"
Public opinion is boiling again!
For two consecutive days, FIFA has been under tremendous public pressure.
David Gill made frequent proposals within FIFA and received support from many reformists.
Finally, the FIFA Congress formally invited Yang Cheng.
When Yang Cheng flew to Zurich from London, he stayed in the most luxurious suite of the Baur au Lac Hotel, which is known as the most luxurious hotel in the world.
Yang Cheng met with FIFA vice presidents including David Gill in a hotel room.
They then attended a press conference together and were interviewed by media reporters.
"I am very proud to receive the invitation from FIFA. I think FIFA has taken a positive first step!"
Yang Cheng promised that he would accept interviews from media reporters every day and relay to the media and fans what he saw and what information he could reveal.
"Of course, there are some things that are not convenient to talk about for the time being. Please forgive my confidentiality!"
Facts have also proved that with Yang Cheng's participation, the entire FIFA Congress has become significantly more efficient in discussing matters.
The noisy situation in the past has obviously improved a lot.
Although their opinions are still different and they still cannot convince each other, at least their words make sense.
To paraphrase what Yang Cheng said to David Gill after the meeting.
"They weren't as noisy as you complained about before, and the meeting wasn't as chaotic as you said."
What else can David Gill say except a wry smile? Later, David Gill proposed to reform the FIFA constitution and put forward a package of reform plans.
For example, the reforms of institutions such as supervisory boards, boards of directors and committees have caused huge controversy.
But as Yang Cheng expected, the offer of 36 seats on the Council attracted great interest from many FIFA representatives.
For them, this is a brand new opportunity!
But to Yang Cheng's surprise, there was not much resistance to the committee's reform.
A very important reason is that these committees were not originally in the hands of these representatives.
In other words, the main power is not in their hands.
In the past, which of those lucrative committees was not firmly controlled by Blatter and his cronies?
And these people are largely just in name only.
How can they be called professionals? Aren’t they just the top leaders who hand over the tasks to the people below them?
Nowadays, for many people, there is actually no loss if the execution and operation is separated and handed over to professionals.
Anything that does not involve loss is easy to reform.
As for the Supervisory Board, the voice of opposition was indeed the loudest.
Just as they had previously opposed Yang Cheng's attendance as an observer, they now also opposed the establishment of the Supervisory Board.
The reason was simple. Who would want to find someone to supervise them? Seeing that everyone was about to quarrel again, Yang Cheng, who had been silent all this time, took the opportunity to drink water and coughed twice.
I actually forgot to turn off the microphone.
For a moment, everyone in the audience was silent.
During the days of the meeting, Yang Cheng was very low-key and didn't say a word.
So much so that they began to let themselves go again and forgot that such a person existed.
Who is this?
The world's number one head coach!
He just won the Champions League for the fourth time in a row! When no one dared to speak, he dared to stand up alone and challenge the authority of Blatter and Platini!
Nowadays, he is supported and backed by fans all over the world!
After everyone realized this, they couldn't help but reconsider their views.
From the moment Yang Cheng entered this conference hall, reform has become an inevitable trend and unstoppable.
Finally, after days of consultation among multiple parties, the Supervisory Board was established through voting!
In other words, the main framework of the entire reform plan has been determined!
The FIFA Congress also has some regulations regarding the members of the Supervisory Board.
For example, we need to fully consider the particularity of football. Therefore, although the members of the Supervisory Board are independent of FIFA, they cannot be completely unrelated to football.
Therefore, the members mainly come from players, club officials, league representatives, Football Association officials, football reporters, sponsor representatives, etc.
Since the Supervisory Board is also responsible for supervising and helping FIFA to carry out institutional reforms, it also needs to invite professional anti-corruption experts, such as Mark Pease and other former core experts of the IGC.
The initial plan is to have nine members on the first board of supervisors, including one chairman.
…
After several days of meetings, when FIFA officially announced its reform plan, media and fans around the world expressed their approval.
In particular, FIFA's Supervisory Board gave very high praise for introducing an external supervision mechanism.
When Yang Cheng was interviewed by a media reporter, he even deliberately pointed out Blatter and said, "This is truly an unprecedented reform!"
This time, FIFA has only carried out a preliminary framework reform, and the specific plan needs to be further improved.
Especially the many details.
But one thing we must do is strike while the iron is hot.
David Gill proposed that the election for the chairman of the supervisory board be launched immediately.
This also immediately received the support of many FIFA representatives.
We have come this far, so we don’t need to wait for the last step! Although the Board of Supervisors has the responsibility of supervision, it is not easy for them to participate in the specific operation, and they really need to quickly elect someone to take charge.
So, at the FIFA Congress the next day, David Gill was the first to propose that Yang Cheng be appointed as the first chairman of the Supervisory Board, and he would be responsible for the formation and selection of the Supervisory Board.
Of course, all of this will have to be submitted to the FIFA Congress for a vote.
I don’t know if it was because Yang Cheng was present, but he was eventually elected with a unanimous vote.
This was obviously beyond the expectations of Yang Cheng and David Gill.
After being elected, Yang Cheng immediately proposed an audit of FIFA's financial situation.
He will also hire a professional third-party accounting firm to audit FIFA's finances.
Regarding the selection of members of the Supervisory Board, Yang Cheng said that the list will be submitted in the near future.
Once all the staff are in place, we will discuss the specific supervisory board procedures.
But financial audits are imperative.
Yang Cheng’s reasons are also very sufficient, and he must respond to public opinion as soon as possible, especially the issues that fans are most concerned about.
It was only at this moment that the representatives noticed that 16 of their "colleagues" were to be extradited to the United States for trial, and that five of their superiors were asked by the Swiss government to appear at any time to cooperate with the investigation.
Subsequently, FIFA held a press conference to officially introduce Yang Cheng’s latest identity.
The first Chairman of the FIFA Supervisory Board!
At the press conference, Yang Cheng made a high-profile promise that he would set up a supervisory board team as soon as possible and would also start auditing FIFA's financial situation over the past years as soon as possible.
"This will help resolve the issues between FIFA and the US and Swiss governments, and will effectively respond to the corruption concerns raised by fans and the public!"
A media reporter at the scene raised a question: If the financial audit finds that Blatter, Platini and others are indeed involved in corruption, how will the FIFA Supervisory Board deal with it?
Yang Cheng answered very confidently: "We will submit the evidence to the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office!"
Regarding his decision, Yang Cheng said that it will help further improve FIFA's transparency, break the dilemma of widespread corruption in the past, and enhance its credibility.
Yang Cheng said that as a football head coach and also the owner of Bayswater Chinese, he listened carefully to the speeches of everyone at the FIFA Congress, especially in the past few days.
"I deeply understand that football, the world's largest sport, has its own particularities, especially when it comes to dealing with the various differences and demands of 209 member countries and regions. Many of the rules in the past were not entirely bad."
"But I know even more clearly that the recent sensational corruption is by no means accidental, nor did it happen overnight."
"We should change the past shortcomings of improper internal operating mechanisms and low autonomy efficiency, actively seek external judicial assistance, and conduct experiments on a series of legal issues such as sports autonomy and judicial jurisdiction."
"I think that at the moment, FIFA should actively reflect on and purify its own governance rules, improve the legalization of its autonomous rules, effectively coordinate the organic combination of sports autonomy and external justice, and improve its own organizational structure and operating efficiency."
Yang Cheng believes that only in this way can a more transparent FIFA be created that is more worthy of the fans' trust! Yang Cheng's remarks at the press conference were immediately spread through the media and quickly caused a huge response around the world.
Everyone realized that this time, FIFA's changes were truly earth-shaking.
At the very least, a crack has been opened in the self-enclosed football kingdom of the past, and the sun is shining in.
While Yang Cheng's remarks at the press conference drew unanimous praise from media and fans around the world, in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA President Blatter and UEFA President Platini and others all looked pale.
They lost!
Complete defeat! (End of this chapter)
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