*** FIFA needs independent commission to end corruption | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

FIFA needs independent commission to end corruption

Berlin

FIFA needs an independent commission to end the "culture of corruption" destroying football's world governing body, which is engulfed in a graft scandal, Transparency International said Wednesday.

The anti-corruption watchdog, which took part in an ineffective 2011 reform drive under embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter, called for a far-reaching overhaul of the body to end the systematic corruption that has plagued it for years.

"FIFA has been shown the red card many times, yet it has failed to reform. It is a flawed democracy far removed from the fans that support the game," Cobus de Swardt, managing director of the Berlin-based NGO, said in a statement.

"There has to be an independent reform commission and FIFA has to change. No more false dawns, no more scandals, no more dawn raids. FIFA has a debt to the fans and players to change now." 

The joint report with Avaaz, the International Trade Union Confederation and the NewFifaNow group entitled "Give Back the Game -- How to Fix FIFA" called for more transparency on pay, term limits for executives and the appointment of independent directors.