Boyce warns British of threat to Fifa post

Jim Boyce has claimed there was a real “danger” of Britain losing their permanent Fifa vice-presidency within the next four years.

Boyce, who was appointed to the role in June, believes the Football Association and Scottish Football Association’s opposition to Sepp Blatter’s unchallenged re-election as Fifa president meant Britain could lose its privileged status when the Northern Irishman steps down in 2015.

“Yes, there is a danger,” Boyce told the Leaders in Football conference. “I would be less than honest if I didn’t say there was. The big worry now is that some of the European countries who always – as far as I’m aware – supported the British vice-presidency seat may now have a different interpretation. I honestly believe that bridges now need to be rebuilt.”

FA chairman David Bernstein stood up at the Fifa Congress this summer to call for Blatter’s re-election to be postponed, amid the corruption scandal that had engulfed the world game’s governing body. Only the SFA backed Bernstein’s motion and he revealed that other members of Uefa tried to prevent his intervention.

Boyce said of the FA and SFA: “They did what they felt they had to do but I think they did go against the wishes of several European countries. I did hear some comments afterwards in the hall amongst some of the people that were in the hall because of what happened in that particular Congress.”

Britain have held permanent vice-presidency since saving Fifa from financial ruin after the Second World War. Although it is enshrined in the organisation’s statutes, there have been attempts in the past to challenge it. Any change to Fifa statutes would require the support of 75 per cent of its members, two of whom joined Boyce on stage yesterday.

Executive committee member Dr Michel D’Hooghe and new vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein insisted they had no problem with the status quo. Dr D’Hooghe was confident there was no immediate threat to the British vice-presidency. But the Belgian added: “Nothing is eternal in life. The only thing that is sure is that life changes.”