FIFA's Infantino proposed as IOC member, but not Coe - Bach

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PARIS, FRANCE (FILE JUNE 5, 2019) (FIFA - FOR NEWS USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE. NO USE AFTER DECEMBER 31, 2019. NO ARCHIVE. NO RESALES)

1. FIFA PRESIDENT GIANNI INFANTINO WALKING ONTO STAGE TO APPLAUSE AFTER HIS RE-ELECTION

MUNICH, GERMANY (FILE JANUARY 14, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

2. VARIOUS OF IAAF PRESIDENT SEBASTIAN COE

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (DECEMBER 5, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC CCOMMITTEE (IOC) PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, SAYING:

"My friend Sebastian Coe whom we wanted to become an IOC member as a president of one of our most important Olympic sport since the beginning, since 2016 and since then we are in close consultation with him. And since then we have addressed in all these consultations the risk of potential conflict of interest he may have."

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC CCOMMITTEE (IOC) PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, SAYING:

"In these ever-ongoing consultations Seb Coe hah, at the end of November informed us that at this moment he would not be able to address this issue in compliance with the position of the IOC ethic commission, but that he continues to work to resolve this issue."

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, SAYING:

"Seb said that he is hopeful to be able to address this in the next couple of months, and this would mean that the door is still open for Tokyo."

STORY: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been proposed for International Olympic Committee membership, but World Athletics (formerly IAAF) head Sebastian Coe will have to wait due to a conflict of interest, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Thursday (December 5) .

FIFA and World Athletics, the governing bodies of two of the biggest sports in the Olympics, have been without membership ever since the departure from the IOC of their respective former presidents Sepp Blatter and Lamine Diack in 2015.

For years, membership of the IOC for the heads of soccer and athletics was seen as almost automatic.

Yet the two international federations have been left out in the cold as they struggled with widespread corruption and doping scandals which tarnished their images. Diack, who has denied wrongdoing, faces a corruption trial in France in January.

Bach said Infantino had been proposed for election at their next session in January along with International Tennis Federation chief David Haggerty and Japanese Olympic Committee president Yasuhiro Yamashita.

World Athletics chief Coe, however, had not been proposed due to a conflict of interest.

Bach said Coe had informed them that he could not immediately resolve this situation but was working on it. Bach said Coe could become a member at their session during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The IOC elects new members at its sessions once candidates are vetted by the Olympic body.

(Production: Cecile Mantovani/Jim Hatley)