布拉特承诺Fifa将有“新主席”和“新开始”

Sepp Blatter has backed potentially wide-ranging reforms of Fifa, football’s world governing body, as he kicked-off a protracted¹ election to select his successor.

塞普布拉特(Sepp Blatter)已对潜在涉及面很大的国际足联(Fifa)改革表示了支持。他还启动了一个耗时的选举流程，以选择他在这个足球运动管理机构的继任者。

The Fifa president yesterday pledged to ensure a fresh start for the organisation² by the time he steps down, including term limits for top Fifa executives and transparency on pay.

昨天，这位国际足联主席承诺要确保该组织在他卸任之时有一个新的开始，包括对国际足联最高管理人员的任期加以限制，以及提高薪资透明度。

His announcement after a Fifa executive committee meeting in Zürich was short on detail, and his press conference was interrupted at the start by an intruder who threw fake banknotes over the Fifa president to protest against corruption³ in the sport.

布拉特是在国际足联执委会在苏黎世开会后作出上述宣布的，他并未提供太多细节。而他的记者会一开始就被一位闯入者打断。这名闯入者将假的钞票扔向这位国际足联主席，抗议足球运动中的腐败行为。

Mr Blatter’s announcement follows US allegations in May that Fifa executives took bribes⁴ of more than $150m in a culture of “rampant⁵, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption.

布拉特作出表态前，美国于今年5月指控称，国际足联多名高管收受逾1.5亿美元贿赂，该组织存在“猖獗、系统性、根深蒂固的”腐败文化。

Last week, an official was extradited to the US from Switzerland, one of seven arrested at a Swiss hotel in May and held in connection with the FBI inquiries⁶.

上周，一名官员被从瑞士引渡至美国。今年5月，7名国际足联官员在美国联邦调查局(FBI)主导的调查中在瑞士一家酒店被捕，目前仍然在押，上述被引渡官员即为这7人之一。

Mr Blatter was re-elected president despite the US legal actions but then announced a few days later that he would step down.

尽管美国采取了上述法律行动，布拉特还是成功地再次当选国际足联主席。不过，他在当选几天后宣布将辞去这一职位。

Mr Blatter also dashed speculation⁷ he might reconsider, saying he would not be a candidate for re-election and that a “new president” would be elected at an extraordinary Fifa congress in February. He insisted that, until then, “I’m still the elected president”.

布拉特还粉碎了关于他可能重新考虑辞职决定的猜测，称他不会作为候选人参加国际足联主席的重新选举，明年2月的国际足联特别代表大会将选出一位“新主席”。布拉特坚称，在那之前，“我还是选举产生的主席”。

The 79-year-old, who has worked at Fifa for more than 40 years, provoked amusement by announcing he planned a new career as a radio journalist specialising in geopolitics, adding, “if someone accepts me”.

79岁的布拉特已在Fifa工作逾40年，他宣称打算去做一个专长于地缘政治的电台记者，开启新的职业生涯，并补充称“如果有人要我的话”，此言逗乐了记者们。

Fifa announced that candidates to succeed Mr Blatter would have to declare before October 26. Possible successors include Michel Platini, president of Uefa, Europe’s governing body.

Fifa宣布，接替布拉特的候选人必须最迟在10月26日宣布参选。可能的继任者包括管理欧洲足球事务的欧足联(Uefa)主席米歇尔渠拉蒂尼(Michel Platini)。

Fifa said the proposed reforms — which would be submitted for a decision at the February 26 congress in Zürich — included “enhanced centralised integrity checks” for executive committee members, who would also face limits on the number of terms they serve. The lack of such limits has been blamed by Fifa insiders for encouraging a culture that overlooks abuses.

Fifa表示，拟议中的改革将递交2月26日的苏黎世国际足联代表大会，由其作出决议，这些改革包括对执委会成员“加强集中诚信审查”，执委会成员还将面临任期时间限制。Fifa内部人士认为，缺乏此类限制助长了忽视不当行为的风气。