PwC’s appointment will initially be valid until the next FIFA congress, which will take place in May 2017. This congress will decide on the appointment of FIFA’s statutory auditors for a full three-year period, as provided for by the organisation’s statutes.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: ‘We are delighted to have appointed PwC, and we look forward to working with them as FIFA moves forward with its programme of reforms.’

KPMG has audited FIFA since 1999, but tendered its resignation on June 9 with immediate effect. No reason was given, but the firm said at the time it would work with its successor to ensure a smooth handover.

FIFA said the appointment of PwC – whose other audit clients include the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – was the result of a ‘thorough, transparent and open selection process conducted by FIFA with several different auditing companies.’ It said offers received were assessed by ‘the appropriate experts within the FIFA administration’, who submitted their proposal to the bureau of the FIFA council, ‘in consultation with the chair and deputy chair of the audit and compliance committee’.

FIFA has been going through a period of restructuring after several of its top officials, some of whom had worked for the organisation for decades, were indicted last year in connection with an investigation by the US authorities into wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

FIFA has released details of an internal investigation into wrongdoing at the organisation carried out by US law firm Quinn Emanuel, which looked at the contracts and compensation given to a small group of former FIFA officials.

Bill Burck, a partner with Quinn Emanuel, said: ‘The evidence appears to reveal a coordinated effort by three former top officials of FIFA to enrich themselves through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives totalling more than CHF 79m (£62m) – in just the last five years.’

The compensation was awarded to former FIFA president Seb Blatter, former secretary general Jérôme Valcke, and former deputy secretary general Markus Kattner, who also served as FIFA’s chief financial officer.

The investigation revealed evidence of breaches of fiduciary duty and raised questions about the role of FIFA’s compensation sub-committee. At the time of its publication in May this year, FIFA terminated Kattner’s employment with immediate effect.

Earlier this month, Thomas Peyer from Switzerland was named as FIFA’s new chief finance officer. He joins from Kuoni Group, where he most recently held the position of group CFO, and has 25 years' experience of positions in finance.

Alongside PwC’s appointment, FIFA has announced that Edward Hanover, an experienced international compliance executive, has been appointed as the organisation’s chief compliance officer, a new post created as part of its package of governance reforms. 

Hanover was previously head of compliance for emerging markets at Takeda Pharmaceuticals International in Singapore, and has worked in the US, Europe and Asia with multinational pharmaceutical corporations.