Igor Landau, supervisory board chairman of the Adidas Group, has told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that the company intends to stick with its partnership with Fifa, which runs until 2030, despite the governance issues that have been plaguing the football organization. Landau said that the company deplored what occurred at Fifa but that Adidas' conscience was clear and that it wasn't involved in any scandal. He added that Adidas was hoping to finalize the extension of its contract with the German football federation in the summer, before the departure of its chief executive, Herbert Hainer, in October. The issues at Fifa were back in the news last month with the resignation of Domenico Scala, the chairman of Fifa's independent audit and compliance committee, the man behind reforms intended to rebuild Fifa. Scala resigned in protest on May 14 after the Fifa congress passed rules giving the Fifa council (the replacement for the executive committee) the power to appoint and dismiss members of independent committees until next year's congress in Kuala Lumpur. Scala stated that the committees could become auxiliary agents of those who they should actually supervise. Gianni Infantino had previously declared at the congress that “the crisis is over” at Fifa. The organization said that Scala had “misinterpreted” its decision and declared Scala's claims “unfounded” and “baseless.” Separately, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura from Senegal was named as Fifa's first female secretary general. The job was previously held by Jérôme Valcke, who was banned from football-related activities for 12 years in February.

Topics