The 2016 FIFA Reform Committee finished its first meeting today in Bern and announced that it has made good progress towards putting forward a new “framework” for football’s worldwide governing body.

“The 2016 FIFA Reform Committee has enjoyed intense and fruitful discussions over the last two days. Overall, we have made important steps towards delivering meaningful and lasting reform,” said François Carrard, the committee’s independent chairman.

“During the meeting we also heard from Domenico Scala, the Chairman of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee. The Reform Committee discussed a number of areas of importance including overall governance, financial mechanisms and the responsibilities and scope of FIFA’s various bodies. 

“I would like to thank my Committee colleagues for their dedication and look forward to working closely with them over the coming months. I will be giving a preliminary update to the FIFA Executive Committee at the end of this month, and following a number of consultations with various stakeholders, including FIFA’s commercial partners, I will announce the make-up of an independent advisory board.”

The next meeting of the 2016 FIFA Reform Committee is scheduled to be held from 16-18 October again in the Swiss capital of Bern, which is one of HOST CITY 2015’s valued sponsors.

“At the next meeting of the Reform Committee we will consolidate these discussions into a tangible framework for future consideration by the relevant bodies,” Carrard said.

HOST CITY spoke with Alex Koch, head of corporate communications at FIFA who was unable to comment further but confirmed that he will be speaking at HOST CITY 2015, the leading EU-based meeting of cities and cross-sector rights holders, on 9th and 10th November in Glasgow.