Speaking at the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section International White Collar Crime Institute in London, the American lawyer also pinpointed the organisation's "leadership" as crucial to enforcing ethics.

"The natural next step of the development of an effective ethics process at FIFA is greater transparency," Garcia insisted.

"The second element that is vital to fulfilling the promise of this reform process is tone at the top.

"More simply put, the second element an institution like FIFA needs in order to meet the challenge of ethics enforcement is leadership.

"An Ethics Committee - even a serious, independent ethics committee backed by a strong code of ethics - is not a silver bullet.

"What is required is leadership that sends a message that the rules apply to everyone; leadership that wants to understand and learn from any mistakes or mis-steps the ethics committee may have identified; leadership that makes it clear to everyone - this is what we've set up the ethics committee to do, this is why they do it, and this is what they've done.

"It's that kind of leadership that breathes the life into a code of ethics.

"Because true reform doesn't come from rules or creating new committee structures.

"It comes from changing the culture of the organisation."

Garcia last month urged FIFA make his report on the year-long investigation into alleged corruption during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, to be made public - a move backed by FIFA vice-presidents Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein, Jim Boyce and Jeffrey Webb and UEFA President Michel Platini.

Sepp Blatter has insisted the report into alleged corruption during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will remain secret despite growing calls for the findings to be made public ©Getty Images


However, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has claimed that publishing the report would compromise witness confidentiality.

Today, Garcia reiterated his thoughts and said, "Showing that to the public serves FIFA's best interests."

"The investigation and adjudication process operates in most parts unseen and unheard," he added.

"That's a kind of system which might be appropriate for an intelligence agency but not for an ethics compliance process in an international sports institution that serves the public and is the subject of intense public scrutiny.

"Transparency is not intended to embarrass certain individuals by airing dirty laundry or to harm the organisation by showing what went wrong.

"It's the opposite.

"Where the institution has taken significant steps forward and made that progress, transparency provides evidence of that to the public.

"It is one thing to tell people that a rigorous process is in place, it is another thing to show them how that process works and what it has uncovered.

"FIFA built a system that should inspire confidence that things have changed for the better."

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