UEFA president Michel Platini believes there is no will within FIFA to impose age and mandate limits on senior officials after a proposal to do so was dropped from FIFA's Congress. "President (Sepp) Blatter said that the reforms would be concluded at the 2013 Congress but now they are not," Platini told journalists on Thursday, adding that the seven European members of FIFA's 24-strong executive committee were unhappy that the proposal had been postponed. "We have been speaking about this for two years," Platini, who wants a limit on the number of terms elected officials can serve, as well as age limits, said after UEFA's strategy meeting ahead of Friday's Congress in Mauritius. "The seven European members of the executive committee were not happy about the postponement. "This is not UEFA that is stopping the reform; we are not blocking anything. The seven UEFA members did not want to postpone the decision." "Do you think there will be an agreement by next year? No there will not... because it concerns Blatter, it concerns people who are 83 years of age, these are the people who are the judge and the jury. It is clear why it has not gone to the Congress, I think we know that." The proposal, which is due to go back on the agenda next year, was part of Blatter's wide-ranging reform process which began two years ago. UEFA proposed that officials could serve until they were 72 and that the president's term of office should be limited to 12 years in total. However, there has been resistance to the idea from the other confederations and in a heated and at times angry executive committee debate on Tuesday the item was dropped from Friday's agenda after being defeated by 16 votes to seven. Blatter said in an interview with FIFA's own website (www.fifa.com) this week that older people could be more than capable of holding responsible positions and that age should be no barrier. Blatter will be 79 when his current mandate as president ends in two years' time and it is possible he will put himself forward for a fifth term in 2015. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at@AO_Sportsand on Facebook atAhramOnlineSports) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/72737.aspx
