FIFA Reveals New Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct

International soccer’s governing body FIFA unveiled  a new code of conduct draft that includes a direct order to ban bribery in the game.

The draft, ambulance which will be voted on by the congress of FIFA, would cover the body’s officials, employees, players and soccer associations.

“We reject and condemn all forms of bribery and corruption,” the draft code of conduct said.

It’s one of 11 principles laid out in the two-page document. Several FIFA officials have been in the middle of a myriad of bribery scandals over the past year relating to everything from electing a president to choosing a host country for the World Cup.

Under the current code of ethics is a “rules of conduct” document that focuses on the World Cup bidding process, and says a member association or a bid committee should “refrain” from giving “any monetary gifts” or “any kind of personal advantage” to FIFA or its members.

The draft code of conduct, as the above quote implies, bans bribery outright.

Another principle in the draft pertains to betting and match-fixing, something that FIFA and its national associations has been dealing with across the globe as investigations implicate referees, players and others in several countries.

“We do not take part in betting connected with football and do not tolerate any form of manipulation or unlawful influencing of match results,” the draft said.

The vote on the code of conduct is one of several items on the agenda of FIFA’s Congress, which meets in Budapest late next month. The Congress will also vote on a slew of revisions to FIFA’s statutes.

The draft code of conduct and the proposed statutes revisions came as FIFA reels from a report by the Council of Europe earlier this week that detailed payments made in the 1990s by now-defunct marketing firm ISL to unnamed soccer officials and savaged President Sepp Blatter for his handling of the affair.

The Council of Europe voted 95-1 on Wednesday to demand a full release of the documents in the ISL scandal. FIFA has delayed the documents’ release, citing a legal challenge to their disclosure.