Gianni Infantino watching Rwanda’s Police FC vs Rayon match at Amahoro Stadium
The FIFA Council which held its first meeting of the year on Friday in Bogotá, Colombia, approved Rwandan capital, Kigali City as hosts of the eighth FIFA Council Meeting which will be held on October 25-26, 2018.
The decision was among resolutions of the meeting which discussed a number of milestone initiatives related to the future of international football competitions.
The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer).
It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. Its members are elected by the FIFA Congress. The council is a non-executive, supervisory and strategic body that sets the vision for FIFA and global football.
Following the 2016 Extraordinary Congress, FIFA announced that a new set of statutes would come into force. These changes have seen the FIFA Executive Committee changed, to become the FIFA Council, with a new structure, and more powerful.
It is led by the President of FIFA Gianni Infantino. The Secretary General reports to the council, and works with a Chief Compliance Officer, who monitors the organisation in their work.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino during a press conference at the Fifa Council which approved Kigalia as the hosts of the eighth FIFA Council Meeting in October this year. Courtesy (1)
The new members of the FIFA Council came into force on 30 September 2016. There is a total of 37 new members on the council. It came into force before the 2016 Ordinary FIFA congress.
The new council is made up of the following individuals: The President, CONMEBOL: one vice-president and four members, AFC: one vice-president and six members, UEFA: three vice-presidents and six members, CAF: one vice-president and six members, CONCACAF: one vice-president and four members and OFC: one vice-president and two members.
The two-day meeting which attracts over 100 delegates from different confederations across the globe focuses on issues pertaining to the development of football.
The Bureau of the Council deals with all matters requiring immediate settlement between two meetings of the FIFA Council. The committee consists of the FIFA President and one member from each Confederation appointed by the FIFA Council and chosen from among its members for a period of four years.
The decisions passed by the Bureau of the Council President are informed to the FIFA Council which immediately endorses them.
Besides endorsing the decisions of the Bureau Council, the FIFA Council meeting also reviews reports that need to be endorsed from other committees such as governance, finance, development, organizing committee of FIFA competition, football stakeholders, member associations, players status, referees, medical and audit and compliance committees among others also meet on the sidelines to take decisions related to the sport.
Peru picked as U-17 World Cup Hosts
In other resolutions reached by the FIFA Council Meeting, after discussing the pros and cons of adopting a different strategy for the future of international youth competitions, the FIFA Council decided to stick to the existing structure of biennial U-17 and U-20 tournaments for both men and women.
Regarding the tournaments scheduled for 2019, the FIFA Council designated Poland as the host of the FIFA U-20 World Cup and Peru of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The FIFA Council meeting also voted in favour of amending the regulations of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia so that the tournament adopts the following changes to the Laws of the Game approved by The International Football Association Board (IFAB) during its 132nd Annual General Meeting: use of video assistant referees (VARs) in all matches. Approved also is the one additional substitute per team in matches that go into extra time, permission to communicate information and transmit data to the technical area for coaching purposes.
They also approved the Voting Procedure for the Designation of the Host Country of the 2026 FIFA World Cup – a document that outlines the details of how the 68th FIFA Congress will vote on the matter.
FIFA’s strategic body agreed, in principle, that there was a crucial need to support women’s football and to strengthen the existing scenario of international women’s competitions. However, further to the consultation phase that led to the proposal of a FIFA Women’s World League by the FIFA administration, the FIFA Council decided that the matter required further examination and should be revisited in the body’s upcoming meetings.
The FIFA Council also agreed on Paris as the venue for the 69th FIFA Congress, which is to take place on 6 June 2019, the eve of the opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
