ZURICH - World soccer's governing body, FIFA, was on Wednesday urged to implement far-reaching reforms, starting with a revamping of the process for awarding World Cups.

FIFA's new reform chief and Swiss academic, Mark Pieth, said the bidding process required a major overhaul, dubbing the current process "a mix of corruption risk and conflict of interest concerns".

At a press conference in Zurich, Pieth, a professor of criminology from Basel University, warned his reforms might not meet universal acclaim within the organization.