FIFA drops age and term-limit proposals

FIFA's executive committee, led by 77-year-old president Sepp Blatter, has dropped a proposal to impose age limits and restricted terms of office from a reform package due to be discussed at its Congress on Friday.

The decision to defer for a year the debate on limiting mandates for senior officials was agreed to by the committee after its meeting on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius on Tuesday.

It comes a day after Blatter, who could stand for re-election in two years' time at the age of 79 under present rules, said the proposed age limits could be considered a form of discrimination.

Blatter was opposed to the idea put forward by FIFA's Independent Governance Committee, which has prepared the reforms to be decided this week.

A FIFA statement said: "As no consensus has been reached among the member associations and their confederations on the agenda items "term of office" and "age limit", a more thorough analysis is required.

"Therefore, both items will be examined further and the congress will be asked to put them back on the agenda of the 2014 FIFA Congress with concrete proposals."

On Monday, Blatter told FIFA's website: "It's not up to me, we are in a democratic process with the member associations voting.

"However, personally, I've already said I was against the age limit as I believe it is not a relevant criteria, not everyone is the same at 60, 70, 80, etc. It could even be seen as discriminatory. Passion makes the difference."

Blatter, who could seek a fifth term as FIFA president after he turns 79 in 2015, also referred to the proposal to limit the number of terms officials can serve, which is unlimited.

"I am not against a limitation of a number of mandates, this rule applies in many democracies in fact. But then it should apply to everybody," he said.

The executive committee endorsed all the other reform proposals that will be submitted to a vote on Friday.

This week's congress represents the final stage of the reform process begun by Blatter two years ago, following last year's gathering in Budapest, when the first was of reforms were agreed in principle.

The executive committee on Tuesday also endorsed proposals made by the new FIFA Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination, chaired by FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, president of CONCACAF.

(China Daily 05/30/2013 page22)