Norway refers three contentious matters to FIFA’s ethics and governance bodies

The Norwegian Football Federation announced on Tuesday that it had submitted two dossiers to FIFA’s ethics and governance bodies. It is seeking scrutiny of three recent matters that have stirred controversy in world football. The move puts the organisation’s practices and Gianni Infantino’s leadership under heightened scrutiny; the federation describes it as the most significant formal challenge to his leadership since he became FIFA president. Infantino is 56.

The first submission concerns the conduct of the president and of anyone else an inquiry may identify, in relation to possible breaches of FIFA’s ethics code. The second asks whether FIFA’s governance arrangements, financial and internal controls, and decision-making processes are working as intended.

One of the issues raised is the sudden lifting of American forward Folarin Balogun’s suspension during the World Cup. Another is FIFA Forward Enterprise, a proposal that was later abandoned. It would have allowed investors to buy minority stakes in a company intended to manage and market FIFA’s major competitions, including the World Cup. The Norwegian federation says its two submissions are based on three distinct and contentious incidents and matters.

The federation says its ethics complaint seeks an examination of Infantino’s conduct and that of any other people who may be identified. It also wants the relevant bodies to examine the questions raised, gather pertinent evidence and apply accountability to their conclusions. These are requests for scrutiny, not findings of wrongdoing.

FIFA responded through a spokesperson, who said Infantino had already addressed Norway’s concerns in a letter to member associations last September. The spokesperson also said the president was « totally open » to an independent review of decision-making processes. The Norwegian federation is awaiting an assessment of its complaint by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee; the governance and compliance committee is to examine the institutional issues raised.