FIFA may not withstand another scandal – FA chief executive

FIFA could cease to exist if it is embroiled in another major scandal, according to English Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn. 

World football’s governing body endured a tough 2015, in which a number of officials were arrested at a Zurich hotel in May, before former president Sepp Blatter and UEFA counterpart Michel Platini were suspended in December.

Both Blatter and Platini – who deny wrongdoing – were banned from all football-related activities for eight years, pending appeal, over a “disloyal payment” made by the former FIFA chief to the UEFA president.

And Glenn, who took over at the FA in March last year, has warned FIFA that it must clean up its act or face extinction.

“I feel very confident about the future of football. Football is massively popular, it’s growing, it is really in a healthy state,” he told The Telegraph.

“In a way I’d hold on to that and say, yes, if there’s another major scandal permeating FIFA, it may not withstand it.

“But there are a lot of good things that FIFA does, so even if it was wound up and called something else, it would still be doing a lot of good things it’s doing today.”

As FIFA prepare to elect a new president on Friday, Glenn explained England’s decision to back Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino.

“I hope we get Gianni winning it and I hope we get the reforms through,” he said.

“We’ve backed the right guy, so from what we can tell based on track record, he knows football the best.

“But there’s probably still a lot of things to play out in FIFA. There are other players in this. The United States Department of Justice and whatever else.”