Sepp Blatter... challenge.Sepp Blatter... challenge.

FIFA faces potentially the greatest challenge to its authority since it was formed 111 years ago following the launch yesterday of the ‘New FIFA Now’ coalition of reformists calling for change.

Following years of controversies and endless allegations of bribery and corruption directed at the highest levels of FIFA governance, the campaign to change FIFA was launched at the European Parliament.

“There has never before been an attempt to bring together an international coalition of people from different institutions and organisations, whether it’s football, business or parliaments, who have seen FIFA’s image go from bad to worse,” British MP Damian Collins told Reuters.

Collins, who has been the driving force behind the creation of ‘New FIFA Now’ added: “We realised that the scale of the problem had become so great it needed a huge response. I think we have reached a tipping point and I hope we are giving confidence to more people to join the call for FIFA to change.”

While the coalition has no power, as a pressure group in the run-up to the FIFA presidential election in May, it could have an influence on the way FIFA is governed in the future and is the first time so many different groups have publicly stated their lack of faith in soccer’s ruling body.

Speakers included David Triesman, the ex-chairman of the English FA and a member of Britain’s House of Lords, as well as FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne.

Speakers were critical of the way FIFA has been governed by Sepp Blatter, the 78-year-old Swiss who has been president since 1998.

Blatter is seeking a fifth term as president in May’s election with three men so far seeking to replace him: Champagne, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, and former France international David Ginola, whose surprise candidacy is being backed by a bookmaking firm.

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