Herbert Mensah ­ I have never believed in the integrity of FIFA

Sports enthusiast and former C. E.O of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Mr. Herbert Mensah says he has never believed in the integrity of world football¹s governing body -Fifa-, adding that ³the credibility of world football is at its lowest point².

³I have seen over years different scandals and they are swept underground within the context of the structure, the constitution and the integrity of Fifa but clearly over the last month or so, we have now seen that the integrity of Fifa is something that is at its lowest ebb.² Mr. Mensah who was speaking on Xfm¹s ³Big Bite² morning show said, the controversies of world cup bids with reference to the situation involving Qatar and recent confirmations from some Fifa executives only goes to buttress his stand that world football¹s governing body has lost its credibility. He said the manner in which Fifa has been established makes it difficult for any form of external interventions citing instances where Fifa has meted out strict disciplinary actions to countries whose governments have interfered in the running of their football federations. Asking what the future was for football, Mr. Mensah be lieved it was not in confidence that the current crop of executives in Fifa could take football beyond the limits it currently was.

Speaking on the relegation of King Faisal and Real Tamale United from the premier league, Mr. Herbert Mensah said it was a terrible situation which he had seen coming. He opined that there has been a change of order where the ³not so big² clubs have won the league while the ³big teams² struggled, adding that ³the older established clubs have got to understand that football has changed.²

Story by Vincent Baffour Acheampong/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana