Fifa Asks Kissinger To Stamp Out 'Corruption'


After being re-elected to the Fifa presidency, Sepp Blatter is turning to a former US Secretary of State to help investigate problems within the governing body.

Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter was the only candidate in the Fifa election
Blatter has called upon Henry Kissinger to be on a 'Solution Committee' to advise on transparency and corporate governance.
The 88-year-old, who worked under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, is a keen football fan and worked on the failed US bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
Blatter has also said he wants to appoint Dutch Johan Cruyff to the same committee - which will have the power to investigate and suggest solutions as Fifa tries to recover from a number of bribery allegations.
Henry Kissinger
Mr Kissinger is an avid football fan
Mr Kissinger has proved a controversial figure - since leaving office efforts have been made by France, Chile and Argentina to question him on his role regarding the disappearance of numerous citizens of the US and other nations.
Meanwhile Britain's new Fifa vice-president has said the Football Association needs to "build bridges" following the fall-out from its failed attempt to force a postponement of the Fifa presidential election.
The FA motion to delay the election was crushed in spite of a series of allegations against Fifa executive committee members coming to light in recent weeks.
Jim Boyce, the former president of the Irish Football Association, claims there is a perception within certain Fifacircles that the FA is arrogant and says he is happy to help improve relations between the English association and the game's governing body.
He told the BBC: "England in my opinion needs to build bridges both within Uefa and Fifa. I can assure you that I will do all in my power - if asked - to help the English FA.
David Bernstein
English FA boss David Bernstein called for an election delay
"(The FA) need to get good people there, they need to get people who are highly respected throughout Europe and the world and there are a lot of very good people in England who could probably do those jobs.
"They need to build back confidence again. England as a football nation are undoubtedly one of the best nations in the world, there's no doubt about that, but sometimes some people feel that there is a little bit of arrogance there - I'm just being honest.
"Apparently there was a meeting before (the postponement vote) of the European countries. England have the right to do what they did today. I'm not criticising them for doing that, they felt they wanted to do something, they stood up and they did it.
Prince William and David Beckham in Zurich
Prince William and David Beckham support England's FA
"But the amazing thing appeared to be that (FA chairman) David Bernstein was the only person on that stage who tried to get the vote stopped.
"I'd have thought some other people would have gone up if they felt the same way and backed the FA, but nobody did."
Instead, 172 associations voted against the FA's move, and Mr Bernstein and the FA came in for stinging criticism from Fifa's senior vice-president Julio Grondona among others.
Mr Grondona criticised the English FA and the English media for their attacks on the Fifa family, and Mr Boyce believes Mr Blatter has garnered a great deal of support across the world game.
"Fifa has come in for a lot of criticism, some of it is probably justified," Mr Boyce said.
"But if you look it spent $794m (£485m) helping developing countries, looking after under-privileged people and they put a lot of money back into football.
"At Congress there were 186 votes for Sepp Blatter to still be the president of Fifa. Fifa has done an awful lot of good for the world game, but there are certain individuals who obviously have given Fifa a bad name."
Speaking on his return from Zurich the English FA chief said the association was not engaged in a "campaign" against Fifa.
Mr Bernstein said: "We'll keep at it. We've got to work with Fifa, not against them."