Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-06-10-Speech-3-681-000"
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"en.20150610.35.3-681-000"2
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"Mr President, are any of us surprised that it has come to this? We have known for years that there is corruption in FIFA, and this has been sapping the soul out of the world’s second most popular sport after cricket. In this House we have long called for reform, particularly after the ludicrous decision to host the World Cup in Qatar, a city of 300 000 people with summer temperatures well into the 40s and no tradition of football.
But it is only now that the FBI has acted that we begin to know the full truth. I congratulate the FBI for acting. I think they have done sports fans around the world a favour. Now that the rotting core of the once beautiful game has finally been exposed, the ensuing fallout will undoubtedly expose others, and it is entirely necessary. I welcome the fact that Sepp Blatter has resigned, but much more needs to be done. Blatter needs to go now, not at the end of December. The bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups should be investigated and, if there is any evidence of wrongdoing, the entire process should be re-run.
But we need root-and-branch reform of FIFA, as others have also suggested. In particular, I do not want any new president to be tarnished by the old regime. We need a completely new field of people coming in here. If FIFA wants inspiration, they should look to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). After they had a similar scandal before the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, they put athletes at the core of their executive committees. I think FIFA should be looking at exactly the same thing: trying to put athletes at the core of the decision-making process. They are the people who know the sport.
Millions of children play football every day. How do we persuade them to play by the rules, not to cheat and to respect referees, when the guardians of the global game do not play by the same rules themselves?"@en1
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