FIFA's executive committee will today set a date for the election of Sepp Blatter's successor and discuss a series of reforms intended to try and ease pressure on the organisation.
The meeting is the first since Blatter announced his intention to "lay down his mandate" in the wake of the FBI charging 14 people, including 10 football officials, with racketeering in a global investigation.
Seven FIFA officials, including the then-FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, were arrested in Zurich on the same day as Swiss police launched a separate criminal investigation into the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.
Blatter announced his departure in an attempt to ease the crisis, and also announced his intention to introduce governance reforms at the same extraordinary congress that will elect his successor.
The date of the election, which must be set with four months' notice, will be set today, with UEFA favouring the earliest possible date in December.
Blatter is understood to favour January, and it could be set for the same week as the Ballon D'Or ceremony, loosely scheduled for January 11th.
If the election is held later that week it would reduce the cost for FIFA, as many of the delegates would already be in Zurich.
The reforms, drafted by Domenico Scala, the chairman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, include:
- Term limits restricting FIFA officials to three four-year terms in office
- Transparency over pay and conditions for officials
- Integrity checks for all members of the FIFA executive committee
- Members of the executive committee to be elected by the full Congress of 209 nations rather than continental confederations
Scala believes that the reforms should be introduced regardless of who succeeds Blatter, and that they are necessary to stave of external intervention in FIFA.
Critics will argue that Blatter has had 17 years to introduce meaningful reform and failed, and that FIFA can only really change when he has gone.
The last attempt at reform, in 2011 following the scandal of World Cup awards, was watered down after a 12-month process.
Blatter blames the failure of the last process on Michel Platini and UEFA, who opposed term limits.
The latest reform proposals may have the strategic benefit for Blatter of highlighting Mr Platini's record on the issue.
Relations between the pair are understood to have soured since Mr Platini urged his former mentor to resign on the eve of the presidential election in May.
Mr Platini is perhaps the leading candidate to succeed Blatter, but is yet to declare his hand as he considers whether to give up his comfortable life as UEFA president for the fraught years that lie ahead of FIFA.
But external pressure is growing with sponsors Coca-Cola and McDonalds calling for reform.
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