The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) has filed parallel complaints with two FIFA committees over three recent issues that have sparked significant controversy across the global soccer community, the federation said Tuesday.
According to a document seen by Reuters, the NFF submitted the complaints to FIFA’s ethics and governance committees.
A FIFA spokesperson told Reuters that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had addressed the concerns raised by the NFF in a September letter to member associations. In the letter, Infantino, 56, said he was open to an independent review of decision-making at soccer’s global governing body.
The filings, however, mark the NFF’s most formal challenge yet to Infantino’s leadership, escalating long-standing tensions over governance and transparency within FIFA.
“The first filing is a complaint to the FIFA Ethics Committee. It asks the Ethics Committee to examine the conduct of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and any other individuals identified through the investigation for potential breaches of FIFA’s Code of Ethics,” the NFF said in a statement.
“The second filing is a referral to FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC). It asks whether FIFA’s governance, financial oversight, internal controls and decision-making processes have worked as intended.”
The NFF said the filings relate to three separate incidents: the FIFA Peace Prize, the lifting of a suspension on U.S. forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup and the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project, which would have allowed investors to purchase minority stakes in a company that was expected to run FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup.
“NFF has for several years raised questions about governance, transparency and separation of powers within FIFA. These filings are a natural continuation of NFF’s commitment to the governance of international football,” the statement said.
“The purpose is to raise these issues formally with the appropriate bodies, to have them examined, relevant evidence obtained and accountability for the conclusions reached.”
The complaint to the Ethics Committee is expected to be evaluated by the body’s investigatory chamber, while the GACC is being asked to use its existing oversight powers to review the governance and institutional issues raised by the three matters, the NFF said.
The FIFA spokesperson said the matters raised by the NFF were on the agenda for the FIFA Council meeting scheduled for Oct. 15 in Zurich.
Item 6 of the agenda is a governance and financial review that will specifically address the FFE proposal, as well as disciplinary procedures and FIFA’s governance framework.
