FIFA Must “Accelerate Reform Process and Act Swiftly” Declares IOC President Bach

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has warned world football’s governing body FIFA that it must “act swiftly to regain credibility” after Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Michel Platini were all handed 90-day suspensions. 

Bach released a damning statement in which he said that FIFA’s reform process must be “accelerated”, in the wake of Blatter and Platini’s suspensions which were announced on Thursday, along with the six-year ban of former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon.

“Enough is enough,” the German said.

“We hope that now, finally, everyone at FIFA has at last understood that they cannot continue to remain passive.

“They must act swiftly to regain credibility because you cannot forever dissociate the credibility of FIFA from the credibility of football.

“FIFA must realise that this is now about more than just a list of candidates.

“This is also a structural problem and will not be solved simply by the election of a new President.

“They must do two things immediately: they must accelerate and deepen the reform process in order to comply with accountability, transparency and all the principles of good governance, as expressed in our reform programme, Olympic Agenda 2020.

“They should also be open for a credible external Presidential candidate of high integrity, to accomplish the necessary reforms and bring back stability and credibility to FIFA.”