A member of Fifa’s Independent Governance Committee is considering resigning in protest over the organisation’s continuing failure to reform, just months after she went on the record about claims of endemic sexism in the organisation.
Alexandra Wrage is the only female member of football’s world governing body’s 12-person Independent Governance Committee (IGC).
Wrage told the BBC that Fifa’s unwillingness to support basic governance reform measures has left her “frustrated and surprised”. The rejected recommendations include independent oversight reviews of the Fifa executive, disclosing executive pay, and independent integrity checks for future executives.
The IGC is a two-part body set up to in March 2012 to combat corruption at Fifa. Wrage, a Canadian consultant specialising in anti-bribery compliance standards, is part of the committee that investigates corruption.
This is the second time Wrage has considered resigning due to ongoing ethical concerns about Fifa’s lack of interest in moving forward. In July 2012, Wrage told the media two of the ICG’s hiring recommendations for Fifa’s ethics committees were rejected, because they were female.
“They were the best names we could think of and we were very enthusiastic about them,” Wrage told the BBC. “The two executives came over and said: ‘You’re going to have to give us more male candidates because a female candidate is not acceptable.’ I said: ‘Did you really just say that to me?’ It was startling. It stopped in most settings three or four decades ago.”
Wrage added that given the amount of money flowing through Fifa, proper anti-corruption measures were critical. While several of the measures have been accepted, she believes they have been significantly weakened, including the proposed integrity checks.
She’s adamant that centralised, neutral and independent integrity checks are essential for the body – especially for restoring its reputation – and that with “courage” reform is still possible at Fifa.