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FIFA's culture needs to change says one of its own bosses

By Mike Collett ZURICH (Reuters) - FIFA's culture must change if it is to reclaim its credibility as an open and honest organization, one of its own senior officials told delegates at its annual congress on Friday. After FIFA president Sepp Blatter had spoken at the start of proceedings, repeating his nautical analogies about steering the good ship FIFA back to calm waters, Domenico Scala, chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee, issued a stark warning. "A change of culture within FIFA is essential if the organization is to eliminate improper conduct," the Swiss-Italian told delegates, adding that the change had to be articulated by soccer's leaders. FIFA was rocked on Wednesday when seven officials were arrested in an early morning raid in Zurich as part of a joint United States/Swiss investigation into widespread malpractice involving a wide-ranging spread of FIFA activities since the early 1990s. Scala told delegates that FIFA had restructured many of its internal bodies, with greater controls and limits, in a bid to stop the proliferation of corruption. He repeated that it was soccer's world governing body who alerted the Swiss authorities last November about possible irregularities regarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, but agreed more had to be done. "FIFA has delivered an impressive list of material changes to its governance," he said. "However, to enact these changes across the entire soccer pyramid requires much more than a set of instruments. It requires recognition that the culture needs to change to ensure that changes become part of a new DNA of how the organization, and the soccer community, operates." FIFA MICROSCOPE He said that FIFA was now under the microscope more than ever, adding: "The culture of an organization, or a community, goes to the individual level, to the ethical and moral beliefs that guide the behavior of all of us. "To support the change we need a culture that censures inappropriate behavior and enforces rules vigorously, fairly and responsively. "Our culture needs to change through leaders at all levels of the soccer pyramid. "It is the leaders' tone at the top that ensures it is embedded at all levels of the organization. This tone must be honest and stop any malpractice to occur. "It must be communicated with sincerity in both words and actions." He said that FIFA's role in the world was different from what it may have been in the past. "We all need to live up to our responsibilities to comply with ethical and legal standards, and our own internal rules and regulations, in order to protect the game of soccer, because FIFA's reputation across the world has changed dramatically. "Everything is under the microscope. Nothing goes unnoticed so we must try and prevent any wrongdoing or errors." Among those arrested or indicted this week were two current FIFA vice-presidents, a former FIFA vice-president and members of its ruling executive committee. (Reporting by Mike Collett; Editing by Tim Collings)