The Basel Institute as the Secretariat of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC)
After Mark Pieth was named chairman of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) supervising the reform of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Corporate Governance section of the Basel Institute was assigned the role of the secretariat, supporting the IGC in all aspects of their work. The goal of the IGC is to oversee the creation and implementation of effective structures and controls so that FIFA and its members act with integrity and confidence is restored amongst all FIFA stakeholders, including fans and the wider public.
Official Texts of the IGC
Media Release: "IGC in line with European Parliament on reform of FIFA"
The Chairman of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) welcomes the Recommendations by the European Parliamentary Assembly on the reform of Sports Governing Bodies. The IGC considers the Recommendations a helpful support of the ongoing governance reform of FIFA.
Media Release: First Report of IGC to FIFA`s Executive Committee
Today, Friday March 30, 2012, the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) presented its first report to the Executive Committee of FIFA. The IGC has been overseeing FIFA`s reform process since its constitution in December 2011. To prepare the report, the IGC, which consists in part of renowned governance experts and in part of football insiders with the necessary insight into the specific risks of a large sports organization (link to the member list), had held five days of in-person meetings over a period of three months in addition several phone conferences and to reading hundreds of pages of documents relating both to FIFA`s governance structures as well as to allegations of past wrongdoings. The IGC also held hearings with the responsible FIFA officials both to get a better understanding of how the finances within the organization are controlled and to assess whether FIFA`s response to past allegations of wrongdoings was sufficient.
First IGC Report to FIFA`s Executive Committee
In 2011, FIFA decided to subject its Governance Structure to an extensive reform process. It has established four Task Forces, chaired and staffed by key exponents from within FIFA. In order to supervise the process and to make recommendations to the Executive Committee and to Congress, FIFA has asked Prof. Pieth of the University of Basel, Switzerland, to put together an Independent Governance Committee (IGC). The IGC consists of 13 Members who are either experts from the legal, the compliance and the investigation professions [6], or representatives of various stakeholder groups of the football world (Member Associations, Leagues, Clubs, Players, specialized Media and Sponsors [7]). In a first cycle, the Task Forces have drafted a revision of the Statutes for Congress 2012 as well as several policy documents derived from the Statutes, which are due to be adopted during 2012 in order to allow the reform to be fully implemented.
Independent Governance Committee Charter
1. Introduction and Purpose of the IGC
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) initiated a governance reform that shall be supervised by an independent group of governance experts and stakeholder representatives – the Independent Governance Committee (IGC).
The purpose of the IGC is to oversee the creation and implementation of a framework of good governance and controls for FIFA to ensure the organization's integrity with the ultimate goal of restoring confidence amongst all FIFA stakeholders, including fans and the wider public.
Independent Governance Committee - Press Release
In October 2011, FIFA had announced that it had commissioned four internal Task Forces to conduct a thorough reform process. Concurrently, it indicated that an external advisory board, the “Independent Governance Committee” (IGC) would oversee its governance reform and make final recommendations to FIFA`s Executive Committee (ExCo).
Media Communiqué
The Independent Governance Committee (IGC) supervising the reform of FIFA has held its first full-day meeting on January 19th. The goal of the IGC is to oversee the creation and implementation of effective structures and controls so that FIFA and its members act with integrity. At the end of the process, we would like to see confidence in the organization restored amongst all FIFA stakeholders, including fans and the wider public.
Media Communiqué - 2nd Meeting
The Independent Governance Committee (IGC) monitoring FIFA`s governance reform has met for a second time for three days of work. It has reviewed and suggested modifications to the changes to the FIFA statutes prepared by the three FIFA Task Forces (Transparency and Compliance, Revision of Statutes, and Ethics Committee).
FAQs - Independent Governance Committee
Is this an Independent Committee?
As several influential NGOs from around the world have demanded, the reform process needs to be supervised by experts with a broad spectrum of specializations. This includes people who have deep knowledge of the world of football and experience in the processes that are now being looked at, including players, representatives of associations, marketing representatives and media rights representatives. It also includes experts who bring a different perspective, such as NGOs, and representatives of civil society. Lastly, there need to be specialists with professional governance-related know how such as lawyers of high standing, governance experts and investigators.
Independent Governance Committee (IGC) Members
Personal Contributions by members of the Basel Institute on Governance
Marco Balmelli – Interview BBC Panorama “FIFA & COE”, 22. October 2010 (PDF)
Mark Pieth, “Hier liegt Sprengkraft”, NZZ, 3. April 2012 (PDF)
Mark Pieth, “Es hilft nur ständiger Druck”, Spiegel Online, 3. April 2012 (PDF)
Mark Pieth, “Sportverbände dürfen kein Freiraum für Geschäftemacher sein”, Die Zeit, 1. February 2012 (PDF)
Mark Pieth – Interview Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung über sein persönliches Risiko und die Herausforderungen als Fifa-Aufklärer, 25. January 2012 (PDF)
Mark Pieth, “FIFA must show a red card to corruption”, Financial Times, January 19, 2012 (PDF)
Mark Pieth, “Stehen internationale Sportverbände über dem Recht?” In: Jusletter 14. March, 2011 (PDF)
Background
Report: Governing FIFA – Mark Pieth, September 2011