BLATTER RESIGNS
Scandal sinks FIFA boss
In the end, he jumped.
On Tuesday, late afternoon Zurich time, in a sparsely attended news conference, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, the world soccer governing body for 17 scandal- filled years, resigned.
Blatter’s announcement caught the sports world by surprise.
Four days ago, Blatter was in a jubilant mood. He had just won re- election as president of FIFA, beating off challenger Prince Ali Hussein of Jordan.
He had sounded defiant in his news conferences, saying to delegates who had voted against him: “I forgive but I do not forget.”
Yet almost without warning the man, whom many had said would never go, finally left.
For his rivals, the surprise quickly changed to joy. Michael Van Praag, the Dutch candidate for the president of FIFA who pulled out of the race to support Prince Ali Hussein, tweeted, “( This is a) very big step in the right direction.”
It had not been a good day for Blatter. He had learned in the morning that his second- in- command, secretary general of FIFA Jerome Valcke, was implicated in a $ 10- million US payment involving the South African bid for the World Cup in 2010. Valcke had always been regarded as a personal favourite of Blatter. He had even been brought back to FIFA as secretary general despite a harsh U. S. judgment against him in 2006 that chastised him for lying on the stand during a court trial.
On Tuesday, Valcke discovered “critical business in Zurich,” which did not allow him to travel to Canada for any of the Women’s World Cup. Valcke’s change of travel plans may have something to do with the Canada- U. S. extradition treaty, which means that suspects arrested in Canada are almost automatically transferred to the United States.
Later that evening, the New York Times and other U. S. news agencies were reporting that Blatter himself was under investigation by the FBI. If true, Blatter himself would have run the risk of being arrested if he had come to Canada.
Nor have Canadian soccer fans been unmoved by the FIFA scandals of the last week.
Last Friday, following an FC Edmonton- Ottawa Fury soccer game in the nation’s capital, fans gathered afterwards to chant “FIFA Mafia.” The Fury is a team in the second- tier North American Soccer League. If fans were to cheer at such an event, what might they do at World Cup game when FIFA officials would be there and the game was televised around the world? The potential sight of soccer fans across Canada doing similar chants while their senior executives were arrested is a marketer’s nightmare.
Romario, the Brazilian soccer star turned politician who had butted heads with Blatter and FIFA on many occasions, said, “His fall will come as a tsunami to every corrupt leader in the confederations around the world."
What Romario means is that Blatter’s exit is a nightmare for many of the National Soccer Federations around the world that voted for Blatter and the status quo.
In countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Iran and, last week, Greece, Blatter’s FIFA has specifically stepped in to stop investigations into corruption in the national soccer federations. Blatter and FIFA used the big stick of threatening to suspend all international soccer games unless the government backed off investigating. Afraid of the public outcry if the soccer stopped, governments almost invariably backed away.
What is clear is that the FBI investigation into FIFA will go on, Loretta Lynch, the U. S. attorney- general in charge of the investigation, specifically said upon hearing the news of Blatter’s resignation, “This changes nothing.”
A political armadillo like Sepp Blatter doesn’t step away from power over something as simple, as basic, as principled, as the good of the game.
Not a living soul was close to buying that one, not this late in the greasy game.
Nothing so trivial as a slightly fractured voting base and a nosediving popularity rating would be near enough to pierce a hide thick enough to withstand nearly two decades of increasing corruption, so many layers of grime; wipe out such an intricately- spun web of deceit.
Only four days after winning re- election, Sepp Blatter resigned as FIFA president on Tuesday. Gone was the “now I’m the president of everybody” joie de vivre that had punctuated the vote in Zurich as recently as late last week.
The familiar swagger had vanished. “FIFA,” said Blatter, in French, at a hastily arranged news confer ence, “needs a profound overhaul. While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of ( soccer) — the fans, the players, the clubs the people who live, breathe and love ( soccer) as much as we do at FIFA.” No questions allowed. And he was gone. Shorn of his body armour, his carefully nurtured insulation, just a balding 79- year- old man, uncharacteristically exposed to the elements, shuffling away from the podium to the refuge of an open door.
Either the U. S. Justice Department is ready to administer an Eric Cantona kung fu kick — ABC reported that the FBI has stepped up its corruption investigation on FIFA as a whole and its president in particular — or that last oh- so- public embarrassment, the raid on the posh Swiss hotel and the arrest on charges of bribery, racketeering and moneylaundering ( among other bad habits) of 14 people, nine FIFA officials and five sports- marketing executives, proved to be the final straw for FIFA’s major sponsors, the real money men behind the throne. Most probably both. The news of Blatter’s resignation was met by scarcely concealed delight among the increasingly horde of his rivals and longtime detractors. From the cheering, you might’ve been led to believe Lindbergh had just landed in Paris.
“It was a difficult decision, a brave decision, and the right decision,” said UEFA president Michel Platini ( bravely resisting the urge to execute handstands down the Champs Elysees). Blatter’s most ferocious nemesis being the early, and heavy, favourite to supplant him at the summit of the sport’s food chain.
“A good day for FIFA and for ( soccer),” rejoiced another highly fancied alternative, Luis Figo, on his Facebook page. “Change is finally coming. I said on Friday that the day would come sooner or later. Here it is!”
Canada Soccer, one of 73 nations to stand up and oppose Blatter at the presidency vote last week, applauded the news:
“Canada Soccer,” it said in a statement, “welcomes the news ( Tuesday) regarding FIFA President Blatter’s decision and the opportunity that is now in front of the football world for fundamental change to its structure and governance.
“As we have unequivocally stated, we are focused on any and all efforts to ensure transparency and accountability for our sport and will support the transition and necessary steps to ensure these core values a of the highest priority.”
Sepp Blatter's shock resignation ignited many questions. Where does this leave the Qatar World Cup fiasco? What of the legitimacy of Russia's highly dubious winning bid for 2018? And how about those 143 member countries, many of which doled out the bribes and kickbacks, that backed Blatter in last week's vote despite mounting evidence? So much mess. So little time. What is certain in this whole sordid affair: Despite a staggering growth in popularity and ever- accumulating riches, even as television ratings soared and advertising dollars skyrocketed, an insidious sickness had taken hold of soccer.
An unsettling, at times obscene flaunting of privilege and perceived omnipotence, entitlement and ego.
The sight of a balding 79- yearold man, however influential in that perilous spiral, shuffling to the refuge of an open door won't instantly, miraculously, provide a wonder cure for that sickness. One announcement in itself doesn't purify a diseased sport.
There is trust to be rebuilt. More dirt to be uncovered.
What Tuesday's shock announcement brought about was a change.
Change in itself means little. It is only an alternative.
It's up to the next person in command to prove that change can also be a solution.