FIFA set for first post-Valcke executive committee meeting

Scandal-engulfed FIFA will be in the spotlight again this week during the first executive committee meeting since the suspension of secretary general Jerome Valcke.

FIFA’s executive committee will be updated on the US and Swiss corruption investigations which involve some of its own members, football’s governing body said.

President Sepp Blatter will also “very likely” take part in the press conference following the two-day meeting, a FIFA spokesman told AFP.

The session which will open on Thursday at 14:00 local time (12:00GMT) and close on Friday afternoon, will be overseen by deputy secretary general Markus Kattner, who has stepped in to replace Valcke.

Valcke was put on indefinite leave last week over accusations that he agreed to let World Cup tickets be sold at a vastly inflated price. The Frenchman strongly denied the allegations.

His eviction has only served to heighten the suspicion which is swirling around Blatter’s final months in office with the election of his successor set for February 26.

FIFA said in a statement that the executive committee agenda would include “an update on the Swiss and US investigations” as part of the corruption probe.

The 25 committee members, including vice-president Michel Platini, the UEFA president and favourite to succeed Blatter, will also receive a first update of the work of Swiss lawyer Francois Carrard, appointed by FIFA to carry out reforms in the wake of the corruption scandal that erupted last May, when seven football officials were arrested at a Zurich hotel on the eve of a FIFA Congress.

The seven FIFA officials were among 14 people facing charges in the United States over more than $150 million (137.87 million euros) of bribes for marketing and broadcasting contracts.

In parallel, Swiss investigators are looking into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.