Putin ally will not appeal ruling by Fifa review committee after failing eligibility test
Zurich: Fifa has barred Russian deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko, chief organiser of the 2018 World Cup, from sitting on world football’s ruling council after he failed an eligibility test.
Mutko, who has also been accused of involvement in Russia’s sports doping scandal, had been a candidate for a European seat on the Fifa Council to be decided in April.
Mutko, 58, has had a seat on the Fifa top table since 2009. He was barred from standing again because of potential conflicts of interest with his government role, a source close to Fifa said.
The Russian official, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said he would not appeal against the decision by a Fifa review committee.
“They want the organisation to be politically neutral, so that civil servants and representatives of the authorities of different countries don’t run in all bodies. It is their right,” Mutko told TASS news agency.
Fifa’s ethics code prohibits political interference in football affairs and the world body has in the past suspended national federations where governments have been judged to have taken control.
Mutko’s Fifa seat is up for re-election in April and all candidates must be vetted by a review committee under new rules brought in after world football’s corruption scandal.
The decision is a new blow to Mutko at a time when Russia has spent huge amounts on attracting events such as the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup. He was barred from last year’s Rio Olympics in the fallout from an inquiry which accused Russia of “state-sponsored” doping.
But the source close to Fifa denied that the doping scandal had played any role in the decision.
“This decision by the review committee was taken because of the deputy prime minister’s post that Mr Mutko occupies and so the possible interference and conflicts of interest,” the source told AFP.
0 comments: