The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of professional soccer, today announced that Edward Hanover, an experienced international compliance executive, has been appointed as the organisation’s chief compliance officer. He will begin work on 1 Oct. 2016.

“The chief compliance officer position was created as part of the comprehensive package of reforms approved by the FIFA Congress in February,” FIFA said. “The reforms demonstrate FIFA’s commitment to the principles of good governance, integrity and transparency in all areas of its operations.”

Hanover will report to Fatma Samoura, FIFA’s Secretary General and will work closely with the FIFA legal and integrity division.

Hanover joins FIFA from Takeda Pharmaceuticals International in Singapore, where he held the position of head of compliance for emerging markets. He has worked in the United States, Europe, and Asia with multinational pharmaceutical corporations in challenging markets with complex business operations.

His appointment follows in the same week that FIFA opened formal proceedings against Sepp Blatter, the disgraced former head of FIFA, for engaging in bribery and corruption.

In December 2015, FIFA’s ethics committee had slapped an eight-year suspension on Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini concerning a $2 million payment Platini received in 2011 from FIFA and authorized by Blatter. The continuing aftermath of the scandal took another turn, when FIFA fired Secretary General Jerome Valcke amid corruption allegations involving World Cup ticket sales.

The latest developments announced by FIFA this week also brought formal proceedings against Valcke and Markus Kattner, former acting secretary general and director of finance and corporate services.

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