CONCACAF announced on Thursday that its member associations unanimously approved a reform package at the confederation’s Extraordinary Congress in Zurich. Officials from the confederation are in Zurich for Friday's election for FIFA president.
The reforms, which were first outlined in the CONCACAF Reform Framework and later drafted by CONCACAF’s Statutes Reform Committee, will go into effect immediately. The revised statutes promise to fundamentally change the structure of how the confederation is governed, impose new term limits, incorporate independent members, offer greater financial transparency and put into practice more effective compliance processes.
“The reforms passed today go further than ever before to incorporate essential principles of good governance and compliance into CONCACAF’s statutes,” read a statement issued on Thursday by the confederation. “However, it is only the beginning of the equally important process of changing the culture of how football is governed and administered by implementing these reforms in a meaningful and sustainable way. CONCACAF will pursue implementation and enforcement of the reforms with the same determination that led to this important day for football in the region.”
CONCACAF has been embroiled in the FIFA scandals that have rocked the soccer world since last May. Former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb was one of a score of FIFA officials arrested and indicted on corruption charges by the US Department of Justice last May, and his replacement, Alfredo Hawit, was arrested on suspicion of bribery in December.
US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati, Canada Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani and Mexican Football Federation official Justin Compean drafted the reform package that was passed on Thursday last July.
The confederation announced that the full list of revised statutes will be available on CONCACAF’s website in the coming days. Additional details on the reforms package passed on Thursday can be found below:
Governance
- Sixty days from Thursday, the current CONCACAF Executive Committee will be transformed into the CONCACAF Council.
- The CONCACAF Council will be led by CONCACAF’s president, and will be responsible for setting and achieving the confederation’s strategic objectives and for making soccer-related decisions.
- CONCACAF will have a General Secretariat, who will be responsible for managing the confederation’s day-to-day business operations with strategic direction and oversight from the council and independent committees.
Independence
- Independent committees will be created to oversee Compensation, Governance, Audit and Compliance and Finance.
- The Audit and Compliance committee will be composed entirely of independent members, while the Compensation, Governance and Finance committees will be chaired by and composed of a majority of independent members.
- The CONCACAF Council will also include up to three independent, non-voting members. Those members will be elected by CONCACAF’s member associations at the confederation’s ordinary congress in May.
Ethics
- An independent Ethics committee will be formed to conduct eligibility checks on the following people:
- All candidates for the CONCACAF Council, CONCACAF president, standing committee members, members of judicial bodies and senior confederation officials.
- Until the independent Ethics committee is formed, a third-party vendor will be engaged by the CONCACAF Council to run the eligibility checks.
Term Limits
- CONCACAF Council members and members of independent committees will be subjected to term limits of 12 years, consecutive or non-consecutive.
- Should members of the existing CONCACAF Executive Committee be elected to the CONCACAF Council, they may complete their current term, plus one additional term, as long as the member in question is in the last two years of their current term.
Transparency
- The CONCACAF Congress will have the authority to annually review and approve, upon recommendation of the Compensation committee, the remuneration and other compensation of the following people:
- CONCACAF Council members, CONCACAF representatives before FIFA, the chairpersons of the Audit and Compliance committee, Finance committee, Compensation committee and the Governance committee, and senior officials including the General Secretary, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer.
Accountability
- CONCACAF has the right to audit any member association or union that receives CONCACAF funds for a specific purpose to ensure that said funds are being used for said purpose.
