Friday 10 March 2017, 13:21

Eligibility checks for European candidates for the FIFA Council

The FIFA Governance Committee has informed UEFA of its decision that, in light of art. 27 par. 5 d) of the FIFA Governance Regulations and following the eligibility checks conducted by the Review Committee, the following persons can be admitted as candidates for the position of member of the FIFA Council:

  • Mr Sándor Csányi

  • Mr Geir Thorsteinsson

  • Mr Costakis Koutsokoumnis

  • Mr Dejan Savicevic

  • Mr Reinhard Grindel

Mr Vitaly Mutko, on the other hand, was not admitted as a candidate for the position of member of the FIFA Council due to his position as Deputy Prime Minister. The Governance Committee having previously decided that FIFA’s general principles of political neutrality and the prevention of any form of government interference and, in particular, the obligation imposed by art. 14 of FIFA Code of Ethics on FIFA officials to remain politically neutral with respect to governments, create a structural and inherent incompatibility with being a member of government, the Review Committee applied such criteria in assessing the eligibility of Mr Vitaly Mutko, leading to a final decision of non admissibility by the Governance Committee.

Further background information on the eligibility checks can be found in the following informative note.