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FIFA's anti-corruption drive must be a priority - Coe

Lord Coe stepped down from FIFA in 2009 © Getty Images

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Lord Coe has expressed his disappointment over FIFA's failure to act upon his anti-corruption World Cup bidding reforms.

During his three years as chairman of the world governing body's ethics committee, Lord Coe sought to introduce new rules to avoid the kind of allegations that have rocked FIFA in recent weeks.

However, he feels the organisation ''took their foot off the pedal'' on his proposals when he stood down in 2009 to avoid a conflict of interest with his role in the England 2018 campaign.

Lord Coe said in the Sunday Telegraph: ''There is absolutely no doubt that the view of me and some of my colleagues on the ethics committee was that once they [FIFA] had moved from continental rotation to actually choosing countries outside of that norm, the structure of that bidding process was not fit for purpose. There was no question about that.

''I suppose, for me, the only frustration was that when I got asked to help England's bid for 2018, we were as a committee at that stage putting a framework together for the bidding countries. I was driving it particularly because of the Olympic experience. It does appear to me that when I stepped down to do the England stuff, the thing that they took their foot off the pedal on was that.

''That now has to be a serious priority, to get some structure back into that. There's no excuse about time here because, as we know to our cost, they have got until 2022 to figure that out.''

FIFA has been hit by allegations of wrongdoing during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding campaigns from The Sunday Times and from England 2018 chairman Lord Triesman.

Sepp Blatter was last Wednesday re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president, with rival candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam having been suspended pending a full inquiry into allegations of bribery prior to the vote, along with FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.

Henry Kissinger is mulling over an offer from Blatter to form part of a team investigating problems within the governing body.

The 88-year-old former United States secretary of state told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme: ''Yes, he's invited me, but he has not been specific except to say he wants to create a group of wise men to deal with some of the issues that have arisen.

''I am an avid football fan and have been all my life. I watch as many games as I can. If it can help the sport I would be willing to participate but I have to know who the other participants are and what the terms of reference are before I make a final commitment.''

Kissinger said he wanted to help bring about procedures which were ''very transparent and as democratic as possible''.

Asked on his thoughts regarding Blatter's unopposed re-election, Kissinger replied: ''I shouldn't comment on any of these details because if I should join this group then maybe it's among the issues that is going to be there.''

The English and Scottish Football Associations' bid to postpone the presidential election ended in a heavy defeat with FIFA members voting by 172 votes to 17 not to do so.

Kissinger expressed an ''understanding'' for the British but, when asked whether it should have been postponed, said only: ''I haven't followed it that closely. My general view is that FIFA should be conducted as transparently and as democratically as is necessary to win public support.''

FA chief executive Alex Horne is confident there will be no further action from FIFA following the controversial decision to try to block Blatter's re-election as president this week.

''I don't see how they can sanction us,'' Horne told Sportsweek. ''I am not sure they can do that in an appropriate transparent way. We are not breaching laws, so I don't lose any sleep over it.''

Horne insists England are not pariahs in the world of football politics.

''We had two meetings with UEFA, one on Monday morning, one on Wednesday morning,'' said Horne. ''We had general support for the view that we should look at independent appropriate reform and transparency and all the other things that we have heard about already.

''We have had private support from within that room. I will keep it private for the moment. We will keep working on who we see as our allies because that European relationship for us is key. We need to represent English football appropriately in Europe.''

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