BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Evidence from FIFA’s medical experts on why the ban on Muslim women footballers wearing the Islamic headscarf or hijab should remain in place was deeply flawed and had no foundation, the campaign’s principal supporter said on Friday.

Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, whose presentation to soccer’s law-making body IFAB six weeks ago saw the approval of the headscarf pending health and safety checks, said he was “shocked and disturbed” by the evidence presented on Thursday.

“If it is true, I would accept it, but I believe it was without foundation,” he told reporters.

The IFAB, or International Football Association Board, comprises FIFA and the four British Home Associations.

Michel D’Hooghe of Belgium, the head of FIFA’s medical committee, said he would only recommend to the extraordinary IFAB meeting on July 5 in Zurich that extra tests should be carried out on the headscarf which is crucial to millions of Muslim women playing the game all over the world.

Prince Ali, the youngest member of FIFA’s executive committee, declined to comment when asked if he faced opposition from the committee’s older, more conservative officials but there was no hiding his anger when he spoke on Friday.

“I was shocked when I heard about Dr D’Hooghe’s press conference on Thursday. We covered all the issues raised including heat coming out of the head, breathable material, the neck issue.

BUDAPEST, May 25 (Reuters) – Evidence from FIFA’s medical experts on why the ban on Muslim women footballers wearing the Islamic headscarf or hijab should remain in place was deeply flawed and had no foundation, the campaign’s principal supporter said on Friday.

Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, whose presentation to soccer’s law-making body IFAB six weeks ago saw the approval of the headscarf pending health and safety checks, said he was “shocked and disturbed” by the evidence presented on Thursday.

“If it is true, I would accept it, but I believe it was without foundation,” he told reporters.

The IFAB, or International Football Association Board, comprises FIFA and the four British Home Associations.

Michel D’Hooghe of Belgium, the head of FIFA’s medical committee, said he would only recommend to the extraordinary IFAB meeting on July 5 in Zurich that extra tests should be carried out on the headscarf which is crucial to millions of Muslim women playing the game all over the world.

Prince Ali, the youngest member of FIFA’s executive committee, declined to comment when asked if he faced opposition from the committee’s older, more conservative officials but there was no hiding his anger when he spoke on Friday.

“I was shocked when I heard about Dr D’Hooghe’s press conference on Thursday. We covered all the issues raised including heat coming out of the head, breathable material, the neck issue.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – English FA chairman David Bernstein, who called for last year’s FIFA presidential election to be called off in the wake of a bribery scandal, said on Friday he was very impressed with the changes underway within world soccer’s governing body.

Since last year’s near-meltdown when FIFA was besmirched by one scandal after another, president Sepp Blatter has instigated a number of far-reaching reforms with some adopted at Congress on Friday and the rest due to be implemented at next year’s gathering in Mauritius.

Bernstein told last year’s Congress in Zurich that the election should be halted, provoking a torrent of angry comments from senior FIFA executives and delegates, but his mood was markedly different at the end of this year’s event in Budapest.

“I was very impressed today. A range of very responsible people and serious people are now on board and it is obvious that President Blatter, the executive committee and the organisation are taking this very seriously,” he told reporters.

“I think the FA should take a little of the credit for helping to push this a year ago – we probably injected a little urgency into the situation.

“There is still much work to be done, but I think it was all so traumatic for FIFA last year and previously, but they have now seen the light and that is what is coming through.

“I think today is a moment in time where there is real evidence of change and we want this to continue to next year’s Congress.”

BUDAPEST, May 25 (Reuters) – English FA chairman David Bernstein, who called for last year’s FIFA presidential election to be called off in the wake of a bribery scandal, said on Friday he was very impressed with the changes underway within world soccer’s governing body.

Since last year’s near-meltdown when FIFA was besmirched by one scandal after another, president Sepp Blatter has instigated a number of far-reaching reforms with some adopted at Congress on Friday and the rest due to be implemented at next year’s gathering in Mauritius.

Bernstein told last year’s Congress in Zurich that the election should be halted, provoking a torrent of angry comments from senior FIFA executives and delegates, but his mood was markedly different at the end of this year’s event in Budapest.

“I was very impressed today. A range of very responsible people and serious people are now on board and it is obvious that President Blatter, the executive committee and the organisation are taking this very seriously,” he told reporters.

“I think the FA should take a little of the credit for helping to push this a year ago – we probably injected a little urgency into the situation.

“There is still much work to be done, but I think it was all so traumatic for FIFA last year and previously, but they have now seen the light and that is what is coming through.

“I think today is a moment in time where there is real evidence of change and we want this to continue to next year’s Congress.”

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – FIFA has a real chance to reform itself in a way that will be remembered by future generations and it must not pass up this “singular” opportunity, its anti-corruption advisor Mark Pieth told Congress delegates on Friday.

Pieth, the Swiss law professor appointed to look at how the 108-year-old organisation can modernise itself following a series of scandals in the last 18 months, urged delegates to be “courageous” and not just “cherry pick” areas for reform.

He suggested the creation of a public hotline for reporting wrongdoing, the declaration of executive pay, age limits for both the president and executive committee members and integrity checks for all executive committee members.

“I encourage you to make use of this singular chance you have to go down the reform route,” he told the 208 delegates at the Congress for world football’s governing body.

“This is crucial, make it real and you could make a real difference. Do something really courageous and generations of footballers and fans and stakeholders will thank you.”

None of his suggested reforms will be voted on until next year’s Congress in Mauritius because the review process will take another year to complete.

Three changes were passed in the Hungarian capital.

BUDAPEST, May 25 (Reuters) – FIFA has a real chance to reform itself in a way that will be remembered by future generations and it must not pass up this “singular” opportunity, its anti-corruption advisor Mark Pieth told Congress delegates on Friday.

Pieth, the Swiss law professor appointed to look at how the 108-year-old organisation can modernise itself following a series of scandals in the last 18 months, urged delegates to be “courageous” and not just “cherry pick” areas for reform.

He suggested the creation of a public hotline for reporting wrongdoing, the declaration of executive pay, age limits for both the president and executive committee members and integrity checks for all executive committee members.

“I encourage you to make use of this singular chance you have to go down the reform route,” he told the 208 delegates at the Congress for world football’s governing body.

“This is crucial, make it real and you could make a real difference. Do something really courageous and generations of footballers and fans and stakeholders will thank you.”

None of his suggested reforms will be voted on until next year’s Congress in Mauritius because the review process will take another year to complete.

Three changes were passed in the Hungarian capital.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A year on from his scandal-scarred re-election as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter told delegates at their annual conference on Friday that world soccer’s governing body was taking big steps back to calmer times.

The 76-year-old Swiss, in his opening speech to delegates from FIFA’s 208 member nations, said that they were moving back to a “safe harbour” after the events of last year in Zurich when he was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term against the backdrop of bribery and vote-rigging allegations.

In what was a relatively low-key address for the often upbeat leader of the world game, he meandered between the events of the last year and quiet moments of reflection of what lay ahead.

“A year ago I underlined to you the need for FIFA not to have a change but to adapt our organisation, and especially its governance, to modern times,” he said.

“I compared our institution to a boat which was sailing along — not always in very calm waters — and I’m sure with your help at the end of the Congress we will have brought back our boat in to the harbour, a port of tranquillity.”

He added: “It is not always easy to find solutions to the problems. When you are on the pitch it is easy enough, because you have the touchlines and the goallines and you have a ref and you play for 90 minutes. But outside the field there are no boundaries, and with 300 million people involved in football, you cannot control them all, it is impossible.”

And using words that echoed through a number of speeches made by other speakers, he said that “trust and confidence” were returning to world soccer’s governing body.

BUDAPEST, May 25 (Reuters) – A year on from his scandal-scarred re-election as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter told delegates at their annual conference on Friday that world soccer’s governing body was taking big steps back to calmer times.

The 76-year-old Swiss, in his opening speech to delegates from FIFA’s 208 member nations, said that they were moving back to a “safe harbour” after the events of last year in Zurich when he was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term against the backdrop of bribery and vote-rigging allegations.

In what was a relatively low-key address for the often upbeat leader of the world game, he meandered between the events of the last year and quiet moments of reflection of what lay ahead.

“A year ago I underlined to you the need for FIFA not to have a change but to adapt our organisation, and especially its governance, to modern times,” he said.

“I compared our institution to a boat which was sailing along — not always in very calm waters — and I’m sure with your help at the end of the Congress we will have brought back our boat in to the harbour, a port of tranquillity.”

He added: “It is not always easy to find solutions to the problems. When you are on the pitch it is easy enough, because you have the touchlines and the goallines and you have a ref and you play for 90 minutes. But outside the field there are no boundaries, and with 300 million people involved in football, you cannot control them all, it is impossible.”

And using words that echoed through a number of speeches made by other speakers, he said that “trust and confidence” were returning to world soccer’s governing body.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has called on Germany’s World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer and his panel of soccer experts to try to come up with an alternative to penalty shootouts to settle drawn matches.

Blatter was speaking to delegates at the FIFA Congress on Friday less than a week after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League final.

“Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks. Football is a team game, when it goes to one against one football loses its essence,” Blatter said.

“Perhaps Franz Beckenbauer, with his Football 2014 group, can show us a solution, perhaps not today but in the future.”

Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup with Germany as both a player and manager was among the delegates at the congress, was not immediately available for comment but his views are well known on the matter.

The German has said he would rather have penalties than either a golden or silver goal which were used briefly to determine matches.

Blatter has been calling for reforms to the game for a while and this is not the first time he has said he wanted to see penalty shootouts replaced.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has called on Germany’s World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer and his panel of soccer experts to try to come up with an alternative to penalty shootouts to settle drawn matches.

Blatter was speaking to delegates at the FIFA Congress on Friday less than a week after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League final.

“Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks. Football is a team game, when it goes to one against one football loses its essence,” Blatter said.

“Perhaps Franz Beckenbauer, with his Football 2014 group, can show us a solution, perhaps not today but in the future.”

Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup with Germany as both a player and manager was among the delegates at the congress, was not immediately available for comment but his views are well known on the matter.

The German has said he would rather have penalties than either a golden or silver goal which were used briefly to determine matches.

Blatter has been calling for reforms to the game for a while and this is not the first time he has said he wanted to see penalty shootouts replaced.