Courtesy: News.com.au


FIFA force FFA into change in voting structure to give more stakeholders a say

by David Davutovic - Herald Sun

A-LEAGUE expansion, the abolition of the salary cap and a W-League overhaul are possible effects of a radical overhaul of Football Federation Australia’s voting structure.

The Herald Sun can reveal that FIFA, which has pressured FFA into giving more stakeholders a say, will ratify the change by March 2017.

FIFA and FFA were coy of the new voting composition, but it’s understood that the players’ association, women’s soccer, the referees and even futsal could all get a seat at the voting table which will lift from 10 to at least 18.

The 10-vote general assembly is the lowest of the 209 FIFA member federations.

A FIFA spokesperson told the Herald Sun that FFA changes were imminent.

“According to FIFA Statutes all member associations must ensure that their legislative bodies are constituted in accordance with the principle of representative democracy,” a FIFA spokesperson said.

“In general, we differentiate between three main groups of stakeholders, namely professional football, amateur football and so-called specific interest groups (players, coaches, women, futsal, etc).

“While all member associations have to be taken in their own context, the general principle foresees that no singular group of stakeholders should be able to impose decisions on the others (i.e. have a voting majority in congress).

“We expect the FFA to have fully concluded the statutes alignment process by the end of March 2017. This includes approval by the Congress.”

FFA confirmed they were in the process of tweaking the constitution.

“The process is underway to develop the proposed changes to be put to an extraordinary general meeting of Members. It naturally involves consultation with key stakeholders,’’ an FFA spokesperson said.

“It is important that we allow that stakeholder consultation exercise to be fully worked through. We expect the constitutional changes to be made by March 2017.’’

Frank Lowy was granted a ‘limited exemption’ for the unique voting structure when he took over the FFA chairmanship in 2003, but FIFA has finally cracked the whip after long calling for a variety of stakeholders to have a voice.

A-League clubs holding one collective vote while the state and territory federations having one each (nine in total).

MORE VOICES AT SOCCER’S MAIN TABLE

How the new FFA constitution could look

CURRENT VOTING STRUCTURE
State/territory votes: 9
A-League votes: 1
Total votes: 10

POSSIBLE NEW VOTING STRUCTURE
State/territory votes: 9
A-League votes: 4
Players’ association: 2
Women’s soccer: 1
Referees: 1
Futsal: 1

Total votes: 18



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com