FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke on Tuesday acknowledged that it could take “years” to rebuild FIFA’s reputation following the damage it has taken in recent weeks withrespect to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. Speaking at a meeting of the International Football Association Board, Valcke said: “The image of FIFAis something I agree, over the last two weeks I would not say reached the bottom, but has reached a level which is definitely a level which we will not go lower than.”
He added:“Things are happening, things have happened, but we are still doing a lot of good things. We have to rebuild this image day after day. It’s easy to destroy the reputation. It takes one second.It takes years to rebuild our reputation, but that’s what we will do.”
Regarding the ongoing spat between FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert and chief investigatorMichael Garcia, he said, “It’s sad for FIFA definitely, and it’s sad for our reputation and for the image. It’s sad for commercial partners, it’s sad for all the peoplewho are supporting football.” The Garcia-Eckert clash has led to Domenico Scala, the head of FIFA’s auditing committee, being asked to review the full investigation findings.