FIFPro’s Tony Higgins FIFA purge could make SFA and Scottish football stronger

Handing countries like Scotland more decision-making power could be the key to ending corruption within FIFA.

Tony Higgins, European division Vice-President of FIFPro, the international players’ union, believes the on-going scandal engulfing football’s governing body is proof that top-to-bottom reform is essential.

FIFPro have already welcomed the resignation of Sepp Blatter as FIFA President, a move that followed the arrests of seven top officials on corruption charges.

And Higgins believes whoever takes over from the disgraced Swiss must change the way decisions are made at congress level by handing more votes to the larger football nations including Scotland.

“We’re now seeing just how easily corruptible the current, one-member-one-vote system is,” said Higgins.

“You can argue that it’s democratic, but my view has always been that they should have weighted voting.

“To use San Marino as an example, why should they have the same say in world football governance as Brazil, as Germany, as Spain even as Scotland?

“The very top countries, and those in the middle of which there are probably only 30 or 40 with Scotland nestled in amongst them should have more say.

“Many of the smaller football nations, whose vote carries the same weight as the big countries, don’t even have professional football.

“They simply shouldn’t hold the same sway as countries with fully-fledged professional leagues and national teams.

“The way things have been done up to now, if a delegate can deliver an entire confederation of votes, regardless of the make-up of the nations within it, that delegate becomes all-powerful.

“We’ve seen that in the case of guys like Jack Warner of Concacaf, who has now been charged. That can’t continue. It has to be looked at.

“There could be a great opportunity here to change the way football is governed for the better.

“I think giving the bigger nations more votes is one of the best ways of making sure that happens.”

Higgins’ optimism for the future is tempered by realism.

He warned: “This isn’t going to be a rapid process. It could take a generation.

“But this has been coming. It had to happen, the only question was when.

“It’s an opportunity for all the game’s stakeholders, including players and including fans, to play a part in the governance process.

“That should have been happening already, but it hasn’t been because, as we’re seeing, corruption has been rife at the very top.

“That created an environment where new ideas, new people and new thinking weren’t welcome.

“That’s hopefully going to change now and it will be for the better of football as a whole.”